Discuss cognitive development during middle childhood

During middle and late childhood, children continue to explore their world with purpose. Cognitive skills continue to develop with an increasing ability to make inquiries, problem solve, classify information and data and make representations that support children to make sense of, and describe, the world and their experiences. In this period of development, they begin to ‘think about thinking‘ referred to as metacognition and evaluate what they already know and what they still have to learn. Thought processes that become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete and increasingly more abstract information. Children at this age understand concepts such as past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and subtraction and cause-and-effect relationship. For most children, school becomes a context for development and where their abilities are assessed and reported on. Throughout childhood and beyond there are many factors which influence an individual’s overall cognitive development. These include their socioeconomic status, parenting, their lived experiences and individual differences in cognitive process, and these differences predict both their readiness for school, academic performance, and testing in school (Prebler, Krajewski, & Hasselhorn, 2013, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). The Continuum of Development describes a number of skills pertain...

Cognitive development means the development of the ability to think and reason. Children ages 6 to 12, usually think in concrete ways (concrete operations). This can include things like how to combine, separate, order, and transform objects and actions. Adolescence marks the beginning development of more complex thinking processes (also called formal logical operations). This time can include abstract thinking and the ability to form their own new ideas or questions. It can also include the ability to consider many points of view, compare or debate ideas or opinions, as well as consider the process of thinking. Typical Cognitive Changes During Adolescence During adolescence (between 12 and 18 years of age), the developing teenager gains the ability to think systematically about all logical relationships within a problem. The transition from concrete thinking to formal logical operations happens over time. Every adolescent progresses at their own rate in developing their ability to think in more complex ways. Each adolescent develops their own view of the world. Some adolescents may be able to apply logical operations to school work before they are able to apply them to personal problems. When emotional issues come up, they can add an additional level of complexity for an adolescent's cognitive reasoning. The ability to consider possibilities, emotions, and facts may impact decision-making in positive or negative ways. Some common features indicating growth from more simple...

\( \newcommand\) • Learning Objectives: Physical Development in Middle and Late Childhood • Summarize the overall physical growth • Describe the changes in brain maturation • Describe the positive effects of sports • Describe reasons for a lack of participation in youth sports • Explain current trends regarding being overweight in childhood, the negative consequences of excess weight, the lack of recognition of being overweight, and interventions to normalize weight Middle and late childhood spans the ages between early childhood and adolescence, approximately ages 6 to 11. Children gain greater control over the movement of their bodies, mastering many gross and fine motor skills that eluded the younger child. Changes in the brain during this age enable not only physical development, but contributes to greater reasoning and flexibility of thought. School becomes a big part of middle and late childhood, and it expands their world beyond the boundaries of their own family. Peers start to take center-stage, often prompting changes in the parent-child relationship. Peer acceptance also influences children’s perception of self and may have consequences for emotional development beyond these years. • 5.1: Prelude to Middle and Late Childhood • 5.2: Sports Middle childhood seems to be a great time to introduce children to organized sports, and in fact, many parents do. Nearly 3 million children play soccer in the United States (United States Youth Soccer, 2012). This activity pro...

After this chapter, you should be able to: • Describe what cognitive theorists share about children and their thinking • Explain how intelligence is measured, the tests used to assess intelligence, the extremes in intelligence, and the concern of bias • Describe the Information Processing Theory • Explain several theories of language development • Compare typical language development with language difficulties Cognitive skills continue to expand in middle and late childhood. Children in middle childhood have thought processes that become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete information. Children at this age understand concepts such as past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and subtraction and cause-and effect relationships. Theorists are able to give different perspectives to the cognitive development of children and psychologists have long debated how to best conceptualize and measure intelligence (Sternberg, 2003). In the next section we’ll look at Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, Sternberg’s alternative view to intelligence, and Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligence. Lastly, you’ll learn about the Information Processing Theory that looks at the cognitive function of children in middle childhood. Figure 11.1 – Jean Piaget. As children continue into elementary school, they develop the ability to represent ideas and events more flexibly an...