chapter seven the school years: cognitive development
TRANSCRIPT
Building on Piaget and Vygotsky Concrete Operational Thought
Vygotsky did not believe the child was a socially isolated learner
Logic and Culture
Piaget’s ideas still remain logicalVygotsky’s premise is that the
social cultural context of learning is important
Most research in U.S. and England
Information Processing Theory- processes by which the mind
analyses stores retrieves
Mind is like a computer
Speed of Processing
Older children are quicker thinkers than younger children
Thinking speed continues to increase throughout adolescence
Automatization helps free up thoughts for speed of processing
Knowledge Base
Knowledge base—broad body of knowledge in a particular subject area that makes it easier to master new learning in that area
Selective Attention
Selective attention—ability to concentrate on relevant information and disregard distractions
Memory and thought depend on this ability
Improved control
Metacognition
“Thinking about one’s thoughts” Older children approach cognitive tasks
more strategically and analytically
The Pragmatics of Language Pragmatics—using language fluently in
many types of situations; from play through school years, distinguished by logic memory ability to make connections
Teaching and Learning
Worldwide, many ideological debates swirl around the content and practice of elementary education
A review of practices in 5 cultures found discrepancy between “expressed claim and observed reality”
Phonics Versus Whole Language Phonics approach—teaching reading by
requiring children to learn the sounds of each letter before they begin to decipher simple words
Whole-language approach—teaching reading by encouraging children to develop all their language skills— talking and listening, reading and writing—all with the goal of communication
The Socioeconomic Divide
Language development, reading attainment correlate with socioeconomic status the lower the family income, the less
developed a child’s vocabulary and grammar
The Math Wars
Math and science are key areas in which children should be ready for the challenges of the future
Traditionally taught through rote learning
New curriculum developed that teaches concepts, problem solving, estimating, and probability
Technology is another area of controversy Specifically, computers
digital divide
students in U. S. twice as likely to use computers in math and science than students in other nations
Bilingual Education
Learning a 2nd language
Total immersion—approach that teaches a second language in which instruction occurs entirely in that language and the learner’s language is not used at all