CHAPTER 13

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE AND LATE CHILDHOOD

COGNITIONPiaget’s Theory – the preschool child’s thought is preoperational, meaning the emergence of mental

reasoning, prominence of egocentrism, and the construction of magical belief systems.

Concrete operational thought – mental actions that are reversible (i.e., the conservation test). In

seriation children can order stimuli along a quantitative dimension. In transivity they can

logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.

Piaget and education – Piagetian educational practices can be summarized as such:

Constructivist approach – Allow children to seek their own solutions.Facilitation vs. direct instruction – Teacher stands aside; does not dictate.Know child’s knowledge and thinking level – Teacher responds to students’ responses.Ongoing assessment – Constant evaluation of student achievement.Promote intellectual health – Provide optimum learning experiences.Classroom context – Provide optimum learning environment.

Evaluating Piaget’s Theory – Piaget introduced educators and psychologist to assimilation,

accommodation, object permanence, egocentrism, and conservation, but the following are criticisms of

the theory:

Underestimated children’s competence – Children display many cognitive achievements above and below Piaget’s stages.Children can be taught to reason at higher levels.Culture has a very strong influence on children’s cognition.

Memory – Long-term memory is a relatively permanent and unlimited type of memory.

Knowledge and expertise – Researchers have found that knowledge greatly affects one’s ability to understand and memorize.Constructive memory – Schemas help children to remember through sorting of information (i.e., trauma involves reconstructive memory).Control processes/strategies – The learner works to control the thinking process so the type of learning activity will affect the learner’s control.

Information Processing

Critical thinking – Grasping the deeper meaning of ideas; looking at different approaches and

perspectives.

Schools and critical thinking – Studies show that schools tend to avoid deeper thinking exercises relative to content.Issues in critical thinking – Two sides of a debate: should it be (1) taught as a separate entity or (2) within the context of the material taught.Stimulating critical thinking – Encourage open-mindedness, arouse intellectual curiosity, promote planning and strategy, and become intellectually careful.Fostering a community of learners – Using such strategies as reciprocal teaching, peer teaching, jigsaw grouping, online computer consultation, and adults as role models.

Domain-specific academic skills

Mathematical skills – Children learn math through movement in cognitive problem-solving, but many researcher and teachers believe that practice and drill are also necessary.

Scientific skills – Children naturally use causal events to solve problems – this is part of the scientific process – however, they also tend to remain enmeshed in first-adopted beliefs that are often misconceptions.

Metacognition – thinking about thinking – knowing about knowing – thinking about how we think.

Intelligence and Creativity

What is intelligence? – there are varied definitions – generally believed to problem-solving skills, ability to adapt and learn from life’s experiences

The Binet tests – first IQ tests measured mental age related to chronological age producing an Intelligent Quotient

Weschler Scales – used mostly in preschool and primary levels measuring verbal ability along six subscales

Types of intelligence – Spearman = general intelligence

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory – three forms of intelligence – analytical, creative, and practical Gardner’s multiple intelligences – verbal, mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist

Controversies and issues regarding intelligenceHeredity-environment controversy – The general belief is that many complex behaviors, including intelligence, have a genetic foundation providing a context either for stimulating or degrading achievement

Culture and ethnicity – determining if ethnicity affects intelligence is difficult because the variables are multitudinous (i.e., what is “intelligent’ in Western culture may differ sharply with what is intelligent in Kenya).

The use and misuse of intelligence tests – Single number IQ scores provide rich ground for stereotyping, yet ability tests could help teachers target specific instruction

The extremes of intelligenceMental retardation – Low mentality disabling an individual to function or adapt to every day life.Cultural-familial retardation – Found where no organic retardation is present and is attributable to a normal variation among people raised in below-average intellectual environmentGiftedness – Above-average and superior talentCreativity – Ability to think in a novel way and create novel solutions to problems

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Vocabulary and grammar – Word recognition and reading in general become more sophisticated in middle

childhood.

Reading – There is widespread disagreement about what technique is most effective in teaching young children to

read. The hottest controversy is between the whole-language and the phonetic approach. Whole language stresses a program of working through a child’s natural reading

development through immersion into stories and writing. Phonetics or the basic-skills approach favors and emphasis on phonetics and parsing of sounds to words with a great deal of

drill. From both of these approaches has evolved the balanced approach, which is a synthesis of the two

strategies.

Bilingualism – Children who are proficient in a language other than English are candidates for a bilingual program, whereby they are given instruction in their native tongue with a gradual move to English as they become more acclimated to the English language.

ACHIEVEMENTNeed for Achievement – Different levels of motivation, to reach a

standard of excellence.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation – External incentives (i.e., rewards and punishments) vs. internal motivations (curiosity, challenge and effort).

Self-determination and personal choice – Intrinsic motivation produces higher achievement levels in some studies.

Mastery orientation – a person is task-oriented focused on learning strategies. This is vs. performance orientation where one focuses on outcomes and winning.

Self –efficacy – a self-motivated perspective in which a person can master and control situations.

Goal-setting, planning and self-monitoring – Self-efficacy and achievement levels increase when an individual sets goals, makes plans, and then monitors

progress.

Ethnicity and Culture

• Ethnicity – The view of how ethnicity and culture impact achievement and motivation is often misinterpreted: “When ethnicity and socioeconomic status are investigated in a study, socioeconomic status predicts achievement better than ethnicity does.”

• Culture – The main contention relative to culture is the comparison of American students’ achievement on international tests with that of the other cultures (e.g., Sweden, Indonesia, French).