week 12: middle childhood cognition conservation classification attention & memory metamemory...

Week 12: Middle Childhood Cognition

Conservation Classification Attention & memory Metamemory Social Cognition Intelligence Multiple Intelligences Individual Differences Cultural Context of Education

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Piaget saw age 7 as a major change within Concrete Operations

frompreoperational thinking

tomore advanced operational thought

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Cognitive changes between early and middle childhood:

capacity for logical, systematic thinking

using multiple pieces of information ability to perceive underlying reality

despite superficial appearances domain-specific knowledge, expertise information-processing capacity control over attention & memory metacognition

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Metacognition:

The capacity to think about thinking.

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Elementary school children still face cognitive limitations:

Lack adults’ broad base of knowledge.

Sometimes have trouble using a particular skill of set of skilsl as part of larger problem-solving system.

Cannot reason maturely about abstract hypothetical problems.

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Conservation Concepts

By age 10, most children understand conservation of physical quantities such as:

number length area mass displaced liquid volume

Culture and the Emergenceof Conservation Concepts

1. In traditional cultures that lack formal schooling, a lag of 1-2 years is frequently found. This does not suggest their people have major cognitive deficits, and depending on the culture they may be advanced in some conservations.

2. Researchers conducting studies in other countries may encounter communication problems.

3. Cultures lacking formal schooling do not provide the same opportunities to learning about some conservation concepts or test taking.

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Contingent truth:Knowledge that depends on

empirical observations, on information gathered through the senses.

Necessary truth:Knowledge that is based on

logical necessity, apart from information gathered through the senses.

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An Information-ProcessingApproach to Conservation

Information-processing theory offers an explanation based on changes in mental procedures (rules) children follow to arrive at their solutions.

Problem solvers do not consciously follow these rules.

They use them implicitly.

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Classification Skills

Hierarchical classification:A classification system in which

items are categorized using a hierarchy of subordinate and superordinate classes.

Matrix classification:A classification system in

which items are categorized simultaneously along two independent dimensions, such as shape and color.

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Classification Skills Children begin to classify early in life. Not until middle childhood do they

use classification effectively to organize information.

Performance on classification tasks improves because they overcome centration.

Elementary school children still do not entirely grasp the logical necessity of classification structures.

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Information-Processing Abilities

Attentional AbilitiesIn directing their attention, school-

aged children become increasingly: systematic organized selective flexible

Individual differences in attentional abilities become apparent during these years.

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Information-Processing Abilities

Memory AbilitiesMemory development during middle

childhood involves changes in: memory capacity knowledge memory strategies metamemory

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Memory Capacity

Memory capacity involves the amount of information that can be held in the various memory stores.

Long-term capacity is virtually unlimited.

Short-term and sensory registers both have limited capacity, which increases from early to middle childhood.

The increases are best described as increases in functional capacity.

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Memory Strategies

Mnemonic strategies

Intentional, goal-directed behaviors designed to improve memory.

Rehearsal The mnemonic strategy of repeating information over and over.

Organization The mnemonic strategy of arranging information to be recalled into meaningful categories.

Elaboration The mnemonic strategy of creating a meaningful connection between items to be remembered, either verbally or visually.

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MetamemoryMetamemory:Knowledge about memory

and memory processes.

Once children realize mnemonic strategies improve recall, they are more likely to use them.

Many 5- and 6-year-olds can think of only one strategy; older children think of more.

Predicting Memory Performance 1. Children and adults all predict

they will remember more items than they actually remember.

2. Younger children are particularly optimistic.

By age 10 to 12 years predictions correlate with actual performance

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Frog Jumping task Preschoolers are hopers 1st and 2nd graders are followers Around age 10 years they become

averagers.

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Elementary school children can learn from both didactic and cooperative learning

experiences.

Didactic learning experience:

Situation in which a knowledgeable teacher who has already mastered a problem teaches a particular solution to a learner.

Cooperative learning experience:

A situation in which learners at about the same knowledge and skill interact, share ideas, and discover solutions on their own.

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Didactic learning experiences can be provided by either adults or more knowledgeable peers.

Children become increasingly effective at teaching one another with age.

Learning among peers is not always as effective as learning from an adult.

Piaget’s theory applies more to cooperative learning situations, focusing on what happens inside the individual.

Vygotsky’s theory applies more to didactic learning situations, focusing on what happens between individuals.

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Several factors facilitate cooperative learning among peers:

Task should be concrete, rich in relevant information, not too complex.

Information available must support at least two different conclusions.

Peers must see reaching consensus as a goal.

The children should know each other and have smooth system of interaction.

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Middle Childhood Cognition (cont.) Intelligence Multiple Intelligences Individual Differences Cultural Context of Education

Take out a piece of paper and write out your definition of intelligence.

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Concept of Intelligence

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Intelligence Testing

Intelligence Quotient:

A method of quantifying performance on an intelligence test.

Originally:

I.Q. I.Q. = Mental Age

Chronological Age

Mental Age

Chronological Age

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Intelligence Testing

I.Q. I.Q. =Mental Age

Chronological Age

Mental Age

Chronological Age X 100

First intelligence test by Binet. Revised as the Stanford-Binet. Wechsler scales now more widely used. Wechsler introduced deviation IQ to replace

mental/chronological age ratio.

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Gender and Subtest Scores Women- best performance as group

Verbal, vocabulary and rote learning

Men- spatial visualization- math

Issue related to the tendency of parents + teachers to encourage males in these areas

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Biology and IQ Same person (tested twice) .95 Identical twins—Reared together .86 Identical twins—Reared apart .76 Fraternal twins—Reared together .55 Fraternal twins—Reared apart .35 Biological siblings—Reared together .47 Biological siblings—Reared apart .24 Unrelated children—Reared together—Childrens .28 Unrelated children—Reared together—Adults .04 Cousins .15 Parent-child—Living together .42 Parent-child—Living apart .22 Adoptive parent–child—Living together .19[52]

Concept of Heritability Proportion of Individual differences

that can be attributed to genes. Depends on variability in gene pool

and variability in the environment.

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Broadening the Definitionof Intelligence

Academic intelligence:Intellectual capacity as measured by

performance on tasks typically encountered in school or on standard IQ tests.

Academic intelligence:Intellectual capacity as measured by

performance on tasks typically encountered in school or on standard IQ tests.

Practical intelligence:Intellectual capacity as reflected in

successful performance in natural, everyday, nonschool settings.

Practical intelligence:Intellectual capacity as reflected in

successful performance in natural, everyday, nonschool settings.

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Gardner’s Theory of Multiple IntelligencesLinguistic Understanding & using language.

Musical Skill in the creation of music.

Logical-mathematical

Logical thinking & reasoning about quantities.

Spatial Understanding how patterns & objects are laid out in space.

Bodily-kinesthetic

Skill in anything involving complex body movement

Intrapersonal Understanding one’s own feelings & motives.

Interpersonal Understanding feelings & behaviors of others.

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Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

Whereas Gardner focused on types of intelligence, Sternberg analyzed factors that contribute to making a behavior intelligent or not.Componential element

Information-processing skills using in solving problems.

Experiential element

Prior knowledge that affects how a person approaches a problem.

Contextual element

The set of circumstances in which a choice is made or an action is taken.

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Explaining IQ Differences There is evidence for both genetic and

environmental influences on IQ. The hereditary influence involves

many genes. Reaction range refers to the range

of possible outcomes from a set of genes, depending on the environment.

Some evidence for genetic influences comes from adoption studies.

IQ reaction range seems to be about 20-25 points.

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The Stability of IQ

Stability of IQ increases with age, probably reflecting relatively stable influences of both genes and environment.

By elementary school years, intelligence tests seem to measure relatively stable aspects of cognitive functioning.

As children grow older, IQ tests become increasingly good predictors of adult IQ.

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How Meaningful Are IQ Scores? Ever since IQ scores were

introduced, people have debated their value.

The controversy centers on issues of cultural bias and the question of just what an IQ score can predict.

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The Issue of Cultural Bias

Cultural bias can affect IQ tests many ways:

language fluency knowledge of cultural references cultural differences in definitions of

intelligence setting in which test is given

IQ change for southern African American children moving for the south to Philadelphia

1st 2nd 4th 6th 9th

Phil. Born with Kindergarten 96.7 95.9 97.2 97.5 96.6

Phil. Born no Kindergarten 92.1 93.4 94.7 94.0 93.7

Southern born, moving to Phil.

1st86.5 89.5 91.8 93.3 92.

8

2nd 86.7 88.6 90.9 90.9

3rd – 4th 86.3 87.2 89.4

5th – 6th 88.2 90.2

7th – 9th 87.4

Lee (1951)

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The Issue of Cultural Bias

To overcome problems of culture bias, some psychologists have tried to develop IQ tests that are:

culture-free (entirely free of culture-based content, or

culture-fair (appropriate for all the cultures in which it is used).

Attempts to develop these have not generally succeeded.

IQ tests offer effective comparisons within the same culture or subculture.

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What IQ Scores Can Predict In general, IQ tests are fairly good

predictors of success in school. Childhood IQ may predict long-term

success in occupations that require abstract thought.

Adult IQ scores are good predictors of success in job-training programs but not of actual job performance.

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In most parts of the world, children start formal education between ages 5-7.

The transition to formal education is not always easy.

Many have difficulty applying their informal knowledge to more formal classroom tasks.

Decontextualized thought:A cognitive skill needed to solve problems that are abstract, self-contained, and removed from any immediate context.

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Cultural MismatchThe format of social interaction expected at school

may be unfamiliar to children from different backgrounds.

White middle-class preschoolers are accustomed to being asked questions at home, test questions to which the adult knows the answers (“What color is that?” “What do cows say?”).

A study found that black lower-class preschoolers heard more functional questions at home:

analogy questions (“What’s that like?”) story-starter questions (“What happened to him

yesterday?”) accusation questions (“What’s that all over your face?)

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Cultural Differences in Math Achievement

United States children do worse than children in many other countries on math & science measures.

No one suggests American children have learning deficiencies compared to children in other countries.

Researchers and teachers assume cultural differences in values & classroom practices must be the cause.