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1. Introduction

2. Fact or Fiction?

3. Building on Theory

4. Language

5. Teaching and Learning

6. Closing Thoughts

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[Video: Middle Childhood – Cognitive Development Introduction]

Introduction

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Fact or Fiction? Fiction Fact

1. During middle childhood, cognitive processes become logical and abstract.

2. The basic cognitive processing capacity of school children does not differ greatly from that of preschoolers.

3. Many children between ages 7 and 11 excel at switching between formal and informal forms of language.

4. The best strategy for teaching a school-age child whose language is a nonstandard form is to conduct all instruction in Standard English.

Cognitive Development

Fritz is taller than Daphne. Daphne is taller than Nino. Who is taller: Fritz or Nino?

Nino Daphne Fritz

According to Piaget, how would a 4-year-old

answer?A 4-year-old cannot yet think with logic; the question would stump the

child.

According to Piaget, how would a 9-year-

old answer?A 9-year-old has reached concrete operational thought and will

probably answer correctly that Fritz is taller.

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Piaget and School Age Children

concrete operational thought: Piaget’s term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions.

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Piaget and School Age Children

[Video: A Journey Through Middle Childhood: Clip D]

Information Processing

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metacognition: “Thinking about thinking,” or the ability to evaluate a cognitive task in order to determine how best to accomplish it, and then to monitor and adjust one’s performance on that task.

What is metacognition and how do children use it to solve problems?For example, in an experiment, researchers (Klahr & Nigam, 2004) asked 112 third- and fourth-grade children to create experiments in which variables were controlled. They used the ramps you see here. Using these same ramps, how would you design a scientific experiment to determine the effect of distance or steepness?

In one study of more than 1,000 third and fifth graders in 10 U.S. cities, what three factors (related to intellectual activity) correlated with high-scoring students?

FACTOR FACTOR FACTORfamilies (parents who read to them

during toddlerhood)

preschool programs (with a variety of

learning activities)

first grade (with literacy emphasis

with individual evaluation)

guided participation: The process by which people learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations.

scaffolding: Temporary support that is tailored to a learner’s needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner master the next task in a given learning process.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): In sociocultural theory, a metaphorical area, or “zone,” surrounding a learner that includes all the skills, knowledge, and concepts that the person is close (“proximal”) to acquiring but cannot yet master without help.

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Vygotsky and School-Age Children

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Vygotsky and School-Age Children

[Video: Interview with Robert Siegler]

Does this student mean what she says… and what she does?

Professor

Pragmatics

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pragmatics: The practical use of language that includes the ability to adjust language communication according to audience and context.

Hey, what’s

up?

Student

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Pragmatics

[Video: A Journey Through Middle Childhood: Clip B]

What are some second-language learning strategies?Second-Language Learning

immersion

A strategy in which instructionin all school subjects occurs inthe second (usually the majority) language that child is learning.

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bilingual schoolingA strategy in which school

subjects are taught in both the learner’s original language and the second (majority) language.

Learning asecond

language

ESL (English as a second language)

An approach to teaching English in which all children who do not speak English are placed together in an intensive course to learn basic English so that they can be educated in the same classroom as native English speakers.

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Phonics approach: Teaching reading by first teaching the sounds of each letter and of various letter combinations.

Whole-language approach: Teaching reading by encouraging early use of all language skills—talking and listening, reading and writing.

CurriculumIn the United States, what are the two basic approaches for learning reading and math?

Greater emphasis on basic math skills

Encourage a broader, conceptual understanding of the subjects in math

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Curriculum

[Video: Phonemic Awareness Task]

The Outcome

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): An ongoing and nationally representative measure of U.S. children’s achievement in reading, mathematics, and other subjects over time;the NAEP is nicknamed the “Nation’s Report Card.”

Rating Fourth-Grader’s Reading Proficiency: The Gap Between NAEP and the States

What are the local standards U.S. states set for children’s reading proficiency?

0-2021-4041-6061+

Percetage-Point Difference in State vs. Federal Proficiency Ratings

15Source: EPE Research Center, in D.J. Hoff, 2007, p.23.

The Outcome

Trends in Math and ScienceStudy (TIMSS): An international assessment of the math and science skills of fourth- and eighth-graders.

What were internationalmath achievement outcomesfor fourth-graders in 2007?

16Source: TIMSS 2007 International Mathematics Report (Mullis et al., 2008).

TIMSS Ranking and Average Scores of Math Achievement for

Fourth-Graders, 2007Rank* Score

1. 667

2. 599

3. 576

4. 568

5. 549

6. 544

7. 541

8. 537

9. 535

10. 531

11. 530

12. 525

523

519

516

516

512

507

492

402

355

224

Country

Hong Kong

Singapore

China/Taipei

Japan

Kazakhstan

Russian Federation

England

Latvia

NetherlandsUnited States

Lithuania

Germany

Denmark

Canada/Quebec

Australia

Hungary

Canada/Ontario

Italy

New Zealand

Iran

Columbia

Yemen

Education Wars and Assumptions

The best approach is vouchers!I support parents’ right to choose the school for their child, with some or all of the cost of that’s child’s education borne by the local government. Vouchers will allow parents to choose either public or private schools.

The best approach is charter schools! I support public schools with their own setof standards that are funded and licensed by the state or local district in which they are located.

The best approach is not to drain public funds from public schools into vouchers and charter schools, but to better manage public education, by allowing the rewarding of good teachers and methods with merit pay and protection from firing rather than basing these on seniority!

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Education Wars and Assumptions

[Video: University of CaliforniaLinks Program: Clip B]

What are some gender differences

in school performance?

Culture, Gender and Education

In middle childhood, girls typically get higher grades than boys do. Then, at puberty, girls’ achievement dips.(Williams & Ceci, 2007)

Processing speeddevelops more slowlyin boys, a finding that implies the existence of differences in male and female brains.(Camarata & Woodcock, 2006)

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Closing Thoughts

How can we use what we know about cognitive

development to best plan education for kids in

middle childhood?