Term
What kinds of physical changes occur during middle childhood?
example: height/ weight/ physical development/ sex differences |
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Definition
-physical development from age 6 to 12 is steady and slow
-children gain 2 to 3 inches in height and about 6 pounds of weight each year
-sex differences in skeletal and muscular maturation may lead boys and girls to pursue different activities |
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Term
| In what ways does the brain change during middle childhood? |
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Definition
-major brain growth spurts occur in 6 to 8 year olds and in 10-12 year olds
-neurological development leads to improvements in selective attention, information-processing speed, and spatial perception |
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Term
| What are the three most important health hazards for 6 to 12 year olds? |
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Definition
-school-aged children are healthy but benefit from regular medical care
-head injuries, asthma, and excessive weight gain are the most prevalent health problems of this age group |
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Term
| How do vocabulary and other aspects of language change during middle childhood? |
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Definition
-language development continues in middle childhood with:
-vocabulary growth
-improvements in grammar
-understanding the social uses of language |
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Term
| What cognitive advantages do children gain as they move through Piaget's concrete operational stage? |
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Definition
-he proposed that major change in the child's thinking occurs at about age 6
-the child begins to understand powerful operations such as reversibility and decentration
-also learns to use inductive logic but not deductive |
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Term
| What is horizontal decalage and how does Siegler explain concrete operational thinking? |
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Definition
-children don't master all of Piaget's concrete operational tasks at the same time, a pattern called horizontal decalage
- Siegler's research suggests that the "operations" he observed may actually be rules for solving specific types of problems |
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Term
| How do children's information-processing skills improve during middle childhood? |
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Definition
-most information-processing theorists say that there are no age-related changes in children's information-processing capacity
-there are clear improvements in speed and efficiency |
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Term
| What should be included in an effective literacy curriculum? |
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Definition
-children need specific instruction in sound-symbol correspondences, word parts, and other aspects of written language
-need to be exposed to good literature and have lots of opportunities to practice their reading and writing skills |
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Term
| How do bilingual and ESL approaches to second-language instruction differ? |
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Definition
-children who participate in bilingual education receive academic instruction in their first language until they develop sufficient English skills to be taught in English
-children in ESL classes attend language classes where they learn english and are instructed in English in their academic classes |
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Term
| What kinds of group differences in achievement have educational researchers found? |
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Definition
-boys typically do better on tests of advanced mathematical ability
-girls do somewhat better on verbal tasks
-ethnic differences in achievement may also result from differences in learning styles, philosophy, or attitudes towards school |
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Term
| Why is the term "learning disability" controversial? |
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Definition
-some children who are labeled as such have been misclassified
-the terms serves as a "catch all" term to describe children who do not learn as quickly as their intelligence-test scores suggest they should |
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Term
| How does attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder affect a child's development? |
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Definition
-have problems with both academic learning and social relationships
-medication, parent training, and behavior modification are useful in helping these children overcome their difficulties |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| How did the psychoanalytic theorists characterize the middle childhood years? |
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Definition
-freud claimed that the libido is dormant between ages 6 and 12
-this is called the latency stage
-erikson theorized that 6-12 year olds acquire a sense of industry by achieving educational goals determined by their culture |
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Term
| What are the main ideas of the trait and social-cognitive theorists? |
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Definition
-trait theories propose that people possess stable characteristics that emerge during middle childhood as experiences modify the dimensions of temperament
-social cognitive theories argue that traits and the emotional aspects of personality that were emphasized by psychoanalytic theories, represent one of three interaction sets of factors that shape personality
-person factors
-environmental factors
-behavioral factors |
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Term
| What are the features of the psychological self? |
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Definition
-between 6 and 12 children conduct a psychological self
-as a result their self-descriptions begin to include
-personality traits
-intelligence
-friendliness
-physical characteristics |
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Term
| How does self-esteem develop? |
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Definition
-shaped by two factors:
-the degree of discrepancy a child experiences between goals and achievements
-the degree of perceived social support from peers and parents |
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Term
| How does children's understanding of others change in middle childhood? |
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Definition
| -between 6 and 12 children's understanding of others' stable, internal traits improves |
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Term
| How do children in Piaget's moral realism and moral relativism stages reason about right and wrong? |
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Definition
-Piaget claimed that moral reasoning develops in sequential stages that are correlated with his cognitive developmental stages
-children in the moral realism stage believe that authority figures establish rules that must be followed, under threat of punishment
-children in moral relativism stage understand that rules can be changed through social agreement
-their moral judgement is colored more by intentions than by consequences |
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Term
| How does self-regulation affect school-aged children's relationships with their parents? |
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Definition
-relationships with parents become less overly affectionate
-few attachment behaviors in middle childhood
-strength of attachment seems to persist |
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Term
| What changes occur in children's understanding of friendships during this period? |
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Definition
-friendships become stable in middle childhood
-selection of friends depends on variables such as trustworthiness as del as over characteristics such as play preferences and gender |
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Term
| How do popular, rejected, and neglected children differ? |
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Definition
-rejected are characterized by high levels of aggression or bullying and low levels of agreeableness and helpfulness but some aggressive children are very popular
-neglected children may suffer depression |
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Term
| What factors contribute to resilience and vulnerability among poor children? |
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Definition
-children in low-income families:
-worse in school
-move through stages of cognitive development more slowly
-protective factors can counterbalance poverty effects for some such as:
-secure attachment
-relatively high IQ
-authoritative parenting |
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Term
| How do television, computers, and video games affect children's development? |
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Definition
| -watching violence on television and playing violent video games increase the level of personal aggression or violence shown by a child |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| How do the brains and other body systems of adolescents differ from those of younger children? |
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Definition
-brain continues to develop in adolescence
-two major brain growth spurts:
-between ages 13-5
-17-19
-puberty is accompanied by a rapid growth spurt in height and an increase muscle mass and in fat
-boys add more muscle and girls more fat |
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Term
| What are the major milestones of puberty? |
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Definition
-puberty is triggered by a complex set of hormonal changes beginning at about ages 7 or 8
-large increases in gonadotrophic hormones
-girls:
-mature sexuality is achieved as early as 12 or 13
-boys:
-sexual maturity is achieved later
-growth spurt occurring a year or more after the start of genital changes |
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Term
| What are the consequences of early, "on time", and late puberty for boys and girls? |
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Definition
| -children whose physical development occurs markedly earlier or later than they expect or desire show more negative effects than do those whose development is "on time" |
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Term
| What are the patterns of adolescent sexual behavior in the U.S.? |
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Definition
-sexual activity among teenagers has increased
-roughly half of all U.S. teens have had sexual intercourse by the time they reach their last year of high school |
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Term
| Which teenaged girls are most likely to get pregnant? |
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Definition
-early sexual activity
-raised by a single parent
-parents with a low level of education
-low socioeconomic status |
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Term
| What are some causes that have been proposed to explain homosexuality? |
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Definition
| -hormonal, genetic, and environmental factors have been proposed to explain homosexuality |
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Term
| What patterns of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use have been found among adolescents in the U.S.? |
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Definition
-is now on the rise
-those most likely to use or abuse drugs are those who also show other forms of deviant or problem behavior |
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Term
| Which adolescents are at greatest risk of depression and suicide? |
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Definition
-mental health problems that are common during adolescence
-boys are more likely to succeed with suicide attempt |
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Term
| What are characteristics of thought in Piaget's formal operational stage? |
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Definition
| -characterized by the ability to apply basic cognitive operations to ideas and possibilities |
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Term
| What are some major research findings regarding the formal operational stage? |
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Definition
-clear evidence of such advanced forms of thinking in at least some adolescents
-formal operational thinking is not universal |
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Term
| What kinds of advances in information processing capabilities occur during adolescence? |
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Definition
-memory function improves
-teens become more proficient in metacognition, metamemory, and strategy use |
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Term
| How do changes in students' goals contribute to the transition to secondary school? |
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Definition
| -transition may be accompanied by changes in children's goal orientation that result in declines in achievement and self-esteem |
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Term
| What variables predict the likelihood of dropping out of high school? |
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Definition
-those who succeed academically in high school are typically from authoritative families
-those who drop out are more likely to be from low-income families or to be doing poorly in school |
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