Session One

Book + laptop Group Discussion (~5)

› Different questions will be given. Presentation/ attendance Debate Research support hours Read/study @ Home Names

Physical Cognitive Social/personality

Lifeline activity

Group 1 In what ways do children grow during the

school years, and what factors influence their growth?

What are the nutritional needs of school-age children, and what are some causes and effects of improper nutrition?(287-289)

Slow and Steady – it is not unusual for children in middle childhood to vary as much as 6-7 inches in heightGirls shorter and lighter until about age 9Lower portion of body growing fastestBones lengthenMuscles very flexibleAll permanent teeth arrive

Children receiving more nutrients have more energy and feel more self-confident

Group 2 What are the characteristics of motor development

during middle childhood, and what advantages do improved physical skills bring?

What sorts of health threats do school-age children face?(291-293)

Gross Motor Skills Improvements:› Flexibility› Balance› Agility› Force

Fine Motor Skills Gains:› Writing› Drawing

Gross motor skills- muscle coordination improves so children can better learn to ride bikes, skate, skip rope, and swimFine motor skills- Myelin in the brain increases significantly from 6-8 years old so skills such as cursive writing or using a keyboard are easier to master

Obesity is defined as body weight more than 20% above average for a person of similar height and age.

At least 13% of US children are obese – a proportion that has tripled since the 1960s

Genetic and social characteristics?

Overweight parents Low SES-Socioeconomic

status (Minority women with low income appear to have the greatest likelihood of being overweight. Among Mexican American women, age 20 to 74, the rate of overweight is about 13 percent higher for women living below the poverty line versus above the poverty line.)Parents’ feeding practicesLow physical activityTelevisionCultural food environment

Group 3 What safety threats affect school-age children, and

what can be done about them? What sorts of special needs manifest themselves in

the middle childhood years, and how can they be met?

Children with Special needs (295-296) Sensory Difficulties Learning Disabilities ADHD

AsthmaVision – Myopia (short-sighted)Hearing - Otitis media (middle ear infection)MalnutritionIllnesses Injuries Obesity

Asthma is a chronic condition characterized by periodic attacks of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath

Auto accidents rank as the most frequent source of injury to children between the ages of 5 and 9.Fires, burns, drowning, and gun-related deaths follow in frequency.

Visual impairment – difficulties in seeing that may include blindness or partial sightedness.Auditory impairment – a special need that involves the loss of hearing or some aspect of hearing. Speech impairment – speech that deviates so much from the speech of others that it calls attention to itself, interferes with communication, or produces maladjustment in the speaker.Stuttering – substantial disruption in the rhythm and fluency of speech; the most common speech impairment.

Learning disabilities – difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities.Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) It is a learning disability marked by inattention, impulsiveness, a low tolerance for frustration, and a great deal of inappropriate activity.

It comes down to just a few simple guidelines: Don't communicate with strangers online and

never agree to meet in person. Tell a parent or another adult if a stranger

contacts you in a chat room or through email or text messaging.

Don't enter contests, join clubs, or share your personal information for any reason, unless your mom or dad says it's OK. Personal information includes your name, address, age, phone number, birthday, email address, where you go to school, and other facts about you.

Group 4 In what ways do children develop cognitively during

the years of middle childhood? Intellectual Development Recall Piaget’s theory

0-2 Sensorimotor 2-6 Preoperational 6-12 Concrete operations 12-16 Formal operation

Conservation Seriation Classification Transitivity - Understanding of the

relationships between the lengths of three rods.

Seriation: Can order a cluster of objects according to a particular feature (e.g., can arrange classmates in a line according to their heights).

2-D Classification: Can order/group single objects using 2 simultaneous dimensions

Reversibility: Can mentally undo a physically performed action.

Physical objects remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance. (Formally, an object remains the same until something-like mass-is added or taken away). Even when objects appear to change visually (as in the five examples below), the concrete operation of conservation says that the object continues to "conserve" itself.

Conservation of mass/substance Age 6 Play-doe problem Conservation of length Age 6 Parallel lines problem Conservation of number Age 7 Row of spread-out (in a

line) of marbles/coins Conservation of weight Age 7 Play-doe problem Conservation of liquids/volume Age 7-8 Water glass problem Conservation of area Age 9-10 Scattered barns on

the horse's farm problem

Rural Australian Aborigine children trail their urban counterparts in the development of their understanding of conservation.

Group 5 The Information Processing

Approach Language Development Illiteracy Rates for Women and Men

The information-processing view considers the psychological activities that allow children to deal with new information

The Information-Processing view can be modeled using› The flowchart

Specifies an input and an output, with processing in between

› The computer Starts with input, has programmed conversions, and has

multiple outputs

Memory is the process by which information is recorded, stored, and retrieved.

Metamemory is an understanding about the processes that underlie memory that emerges and improves during middle childhood.

Keyword Strategy Rehearsal Organization of

information into coherent patterns.

The average 6 year old has a vocabulary of 8,000-14,000 words and increases another 5,000 words by age 11Metalinguistic awareness is an understanding of one’s own use of language Bilingualism – the ability to speak two languages

Stage 0 – birth to first grade – identification of lettersStage 1 – first and second grade – starts readingStage 2 – second and third grade – reads aloud fluentlyStage 3 – fourth to eighth grade – uses reading as a means for learningStage 4 – eight grade and beyond – understands reading in terms of multiple points of view

The capacity to 1. understand the world, 2. think rationally, 3. and use resources effectively when

faced with challenges.

Alfred Binet originated the intelligence test at the turn of the 20th century

Mental age – the typical intelligence level found for people of a given chronological age

Chronological age – a person’s age according to the calendar

Intelligence quotient (IQ) – a score that expresses the ratio between a person’s mental and chronological ages

IQ =

MA

CAX 100

Fluid intelligence – the ability to deal with new problems and situationsCrystallized intelligence – the store of information, skills, and strategies that people have acquired through education and prior experiences and through their previous use of fluid intelligence

Eight independent intelligences Emphasizes education required to transform raw potentialHelpful to understand children's special talents

LinguisticLogico-mathematicalMusicalSpatialBodily-kinestheticNaturalistInterpersonalIntrapersonal

Mental retardation – a significantly sub-average level of intellectual functioning that occurs with related limitations in two or more skill areasMild retardation – retardation with IQ scores in the range of 50 or 55 to 70Moderate retardation – retardation with IQ scores around 35 or 40 to 50 or 55Severe retardation - retardation with IQ scores around 20 or 25 to 35 or 40Profound retardation – retardation with IQ scores below 20 or 25

Gifted and Talented: showing evidence of high performance capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas, in leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields

Acceleration: the provision of special programs that allow gifted students to move ahead at their own pace, even if this means skipping to higher grade levels

Enrichment: an approach whereby gifted students are kept at grade level but are enrolled in special programs and given individual activities to allow greater depth of study

The Specially Gifted