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7.1
Physical Development and Health in Middle Childhood
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During middle childhood, growth rates slow down compared to earlier childhood, but children still increase in height and weight.
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Brain growth allows for improved sensory and motor skills, and faster reaction times and information processing abilities.
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Gross and fine motor skills continue to develop rapidly, allowing children to participate in organized sports activities, meet the demands of a school setting, and gain independence with improvements in self-care.
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Quality sleep should be a priority. A healthy diet and regular exercise also matter for general well-being as well as for cognitive and socioemotional development.
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Other health concerns during middle childhood include poor dental care, asthma, diabetes, accidents, and injuries.
7.2
Cognition in Middle Childhood
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Children reach a variety of cognitive milestones during middle childhood—such as problem solving, thinking logically and flexible, and language use—at different rates. Culture, family, and peers are important influences.
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Piaget believed that during middle childhood, children can use logic to solve concrete problems, such as conservation and seriation.
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The information processing approach to cognitive development focuses on the development of memory, attention, and executive function.
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Theory of mind becomes increasingly sophisticated as children gain more advanced awareness of how their thoughts and feelings differ from others.
7.3
Intelligence in Middle Childhood
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Intelligence is generally defined as the ability of an individual to adapt to the world around them.
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Intelligence is influenced by genetics as well as by environmental factors such as education, poverty, and nutrition.
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The general cognitive ability underlying specific cognitive skills is called general intelligence.
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Some psychologists have proposed that there are multiple types of intelligence.
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A measure of intelligence derived from intelligence tests is called the intelligence quotient (IQ). IQ scores are normally distributed, which means that most people have an IQ near the average (100), and many fewer have scores that are extremely high or extremely low.
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Variations in intelligence, such as intellectual disability and giftedness, can impact academic achievement.
7.4
Contexts: School and Learning Diversity in Middle Childhood
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Education takes place in both formal (schooling) and informal (home, extracurricular activities) settings. Formal education can include teacher-centered classrooms and student-centered classrooms.
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Teachers often use theories of education, including behaviorism and constructivism, to guide their students’ learning.
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Student academic achievement can be influenced by a variety of factors, including teacher expectancies and sociodemographic variables and resources.
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Learning disabilities are conditions that impact learning in specific academic areas and include dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. One common neurodevelopmental disorder seen in children is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
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Legislation in the United States provides children with disabilities with rights to a free and appropriate education.
7.5
Language in Middle Childhood
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During middle childhood, children have dramatic increases in vocabulary, knowledge of grammatical rules, and metalinguistic awareness.
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Children are learning how to change their speech in response to the needs of the listener. This is referred to as pragmatics.
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A major task during middle childhood is learning to read. There are two main approaches to teaching reading: the phonics-based approach and the whole language approach.
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Many children speak more than one language. Multilingualism has several positive cognitive and social benefits for development.
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English Language Learners (ELL) have special educational needs. Approaches to teaching ELL students include developmental bilingual programs, English as a Second Language programs, two-way immersion programs, and immersion programs.