Class 6: Late Childhood Cognitive Development
 
I.
Review
II.
Discussion
A. Here are ten or so learning objectives for today’s class. Be prepared to answer each using your notes on the readings, video, and class discussion.
1. Brevney: Describe two of the most dramatic changes in brain development during the transition to late childhood; what happens to behavior?
2. Sara: In late childhood, many children can explain their answers for the conservation task; what are the types of answers?
a. Every problem has two sides; balance sides
3. Lorrie: Does the acquisition of conservation occur in all children in all cultures?
4. Gary: How does memory improve in late childhood?
a. storing more
b. storing faster
c. organization of memory more refined
d. metamemory
5. Melissa: Compare memory performance of Liberian and American schoolchildren on memory tasks.
a. Unschooled kids:
b. Schooled kids: strategies to organize.
6. Veronica: Siegler and Piaget reach different explanations for children’s performance on the balance beam task; explain
a. Piaget: First one factor than the other factor. Can solve when they know both
b. Siegler: rules. Some rules are better predictors than others. Children acquire rules trial and error and partly by INVENTION (even if the old rules seem work). Gradual change.
7. Tim: What is metamemory and metacognition and why might it be important for improving children’s cognitive skills?
a. Metacognition
(1). Metamemory: what do kinds of things do remember well?
(2). How many steps do think it will take
(3). What kinds of strategies will you use first
8. Le Ann: Describe how attention and planning improve during late childhood; be specific! Don’t just say “attention span lengthen and children plan”
a. Attention v attention and manipulation
b. Filter out distraction; attention becomes SELECTIVE
c. Recognize goals and means to achieve
d. More plan in different situations
9. Jenn: Aside from memory, what cognitive abilities, discussed in the readings, would (a) be strongly related to academic performance and (b) can be significantly improve with practice or instruction or strategies. Try to discuss several abilities.
a. memory: classification approaches probably help schoolkid
10. POSSIBLE Essay Question: School. Much academic learning involves simply remembering words, categories, and procedures (e.gt how to add, etc). In an editorial, a writer proposes that to improve standardized elementary school scores, we should teach memory strategies to schoolchildren. Analyze. Be sure to describe several kinds of memory strategies and, if you think appropriate, the concept of metacognition.
III.
Video: Journey Through Childhood: Middle Childhood
A. Physical Development
1. Why boys generally have more _________ mass during middle childhood, girls tend to be more __________.
B. Language
1. School-age children have a solid understanding of __________, the patterns of arrangement and relations among speech.
C. Attention and Thinking
1. School-age children can think about thinking; this is called _________
2. Children in different society learn culture-specific strategies for solving problems. Saxe found that Oksapmin children of Papua New Guinea can count and add using a system based on _______ ________
3. Siegler notes three ways in which children learn new cognitive skills. One is _____________ where they see someone else perform a task and later repeat it themselves. A second method is _____ . Lastly children can _______ strategies even if the old ones still work.
4. Dr Ellen Winner reports that gifted children have three characteristics...
a. precocity
b. rage to master
c. independence; little scaffolding; learn on own
IV.
Assessment
A. Essay 3
V.
Preview