CHAPTER 9
PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
RESOURCES-AT-A-GLANCE
Detailed Outline
Learning
Objectives
Instructor’s Resources
Test Bank
MyPsychLab Connection
Chapter Introduction pp. 211-212
PowerPoint Slides
1-4
Sketchnote Video
Middle Childhood
Physical Changes pp. 212-217
Lecture Enhancer
5-14
MC 1-15
Watch
Cognitive Changes pp. 217-222
Language
9.4
Lecture Enhancer
Cognitive Advancement
15–27
MC 16-44
FI 78–84
Schooling pp. 222-231
Literacy
Second-Language Learners
Achievement and Intelligence Tests
Group Differences in Achievement
9.8
9.9
9.10
9.11
PowerPoint Slides
28–41
MC 45-71
FI 85–87
SA 96-100
ES 108–111
Watch
Teaching in a Bilingual
Classroom, p. 224
Boys in Crisis, p. 227
Children with Special Needs
pp. 231–236
PowerPoint Slides
42–47
MC 72-74
FI 88–89
Watch
Dyslexia Doctor, p. 233
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Development in middle childhood, ages 6 to 12, is marked by major physical changes, including those in
the brain. Cognitive advances occur in these years, and the patterns and habits established during this
time affect not only adolescent experiences, but also adulthood. Formal education impacts development
and a variety of factors—such as learning disabilities, attention problems, language proficiency, sex, race,
and culture—shape academic achievement.
Growth from 6 to 12 is steady and slow. Coordination of both large muscles and fine motor continue to
improve. Sex differences in bone and skeletal maturation may lead boys and girls to pursue different
activities. Major growth spurts occur in the brain in 6- to 8-year-olds and in 10- to 12-year-olds.
Literacy, the ability to read and write, is the focus of education in the 6- to 12-year-old period. Reading
skills include improvements in phonological awareness, automaticity, learning word parts, comprehension
strategies, and exposure to good literature. Writing techniques include outlining, paragraph development,
language mechanics, as well as how to edit their own and others’ written work. Children with limited
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing Chapter 9, students should be able to answer the following questions:
9.1 What kinds of physical changes occur during middle childhood?
9.2 In what ways does the brain change during these years?
9.3 What are the three most important health hazards for 6- to 12-year-olds?
9.4 How do vocabulary and other aspects of language change during middle childhood?
9.5 What cognitive advantages do children gain as they move through Piaget’s concrete operational
stage?
9.6 What is horizontal decalage, and how does Siegler explain concrete operational thinking?
9.7 How do children’s information-processing skills improve during middle childhood?
KEY TERMS
achievement test (p. 225)
analytical style (p. 228)
association areas (p. 213)
asthma (p. 214)
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (p. 233)
automaticity (p. 220)
balanced approach (p. 223)
bilingual education (p. 224)
BMI-for-age (p. 215)
class inclusion (p. 219)
concrete operational stage (p. 218)
decentration (p. 218)
deductive logic (p. 218)
dyslexia (p. 231)
excessive weight gain (p. 214)
executive processes (p. 221)
INTEGRATED CHAPTER TEACHING NOTES
PHYSICAL CHANGES (pp. 212-217)
MyPsychLab Connections
Watch: Physical Fitness in the Grade School Years, p. 212
Growth and Motor Development
LO 9.1 What kinds of physical changes occur during middle childhood?
The growth patterns established in the late preschool years continue, with two to three inches in height
and about six pounds added each year. Large muscle coordination continues to improve so that children
increase in strength and speed. The school-age child’s increasingly good fine motor coordination makes
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.1, p. 212)
Give examples of the differences in growth and motor development between girls and boys.
The Brain and Nervous System
LO 9.2 In what ways does the brain change during these years?
Two major growth spurts happen in the brain during middle childhood. In most healthy children, the first
takes place between six and eight, and the second between ten and twelve. Both spurts involve the
The continued myelinization of the frontal lobes, reticular formation, and the nerves that link the reticular
formation to the frontal lobes are of particular importance. These connections are needed to take full
advantage of improvements in frontal lobe functions because the reticular formation controls attentions.
▪ It seems likely that myelinization of linkages between the frontal lobes and the reticular formation
work together to enable 6- to 12-year-olds to develop a particular kind of concentration called
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.2, p. 213)
Think about how you’re using selective attention skills as you read this book. What distraction are you
screening out?
▪ The neurons of the association areas—parts of the brain where sensory, motor and intellectual
functions are linked—are myelinized to some degree by the time children enter middle childhood.
From six to twelve, however, the nerve cells in these areas approach complete myelinization.
Health and Wellness
LO 9.3 What are the three most important health hazards for 6- to 12-year-olds?
Most school-aged children are very healthy; however, they continue to benefit from regular medical care.
Injuries
As children become more active, participate in sports, and venture farther from home during middle
childhood, their rates of various types of accidental injuries change. Injuries due to falls are more
common among 5- to 9-year-olds than they are among 10- to-14-year-olds. By contrast, 10- to 14-year-
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.3, p. 214)
How can people be convinced of the importance of wearing bicycle helmets?
Asthma
The most frequent cause of school absence for 6- to 12-year-olds is asthma, a chronic lung disease in
which individuals experience sudden fatal attacks of breathing difficulty. The disease typically appears
between ages 5 and 7 and is believed to be caused by hypersensitivity to allergens, such as dust and
animal hair. When children who have asthma encounter these irritants, their bronchial tube linings
become inflamed. In response, large amounts of mucous are produced, the airways become blocked, and
the child gasps for air.
Doctors use a “step” approach to treating asthma in which education is the first line of defense:
Excessive Weight Gain
The most serious long-term health risk in middle childhood is excessive weight gain. It is a pattern in
which children gain more weight in a year than is appropriate for their height, age, and sex. Health care
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.3, p. 215)
Why do you suppose the rate of obesity has increased so dramatically in recent years?
Assessments of weight are a vitally important part of well-child care during middle childhood, because
the older a child gets without stopping the pattern of excessive weight gain, the more likely the child is to
be obese into the adult years. Additionally, more than half of children with obesity have one or more risk
factors, such as elevated levels of cholesterol or high blood pressure, that predispose them to heart disease
later in life.
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.3, p. 215)
What factors, other than just choosing sedentary activities or exercising somewhat less, are involved in
the causes of excessive weight gain in children?
Weight-loss diets for children can be fairly risky. Because they are still growing, the nutritional needs of
overweight children differ from those of adults. Consequently, overweight children require special diets
developed and supervised by nutritional experts, and increasing the amount of exercise children get is just
as important as changing their eating habits.
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.3, p. 216)
What are some problems with children beginning to diet in middle childhood?
Critical Thinking Questions (Learning Objectives 9.1-9.3, pp. 212-217)
How do you think changes in children’s frontal lobes during middle childhood affect their ability to
manage health issues, such as injuries, asthma, and obesity? What do these changes suggest about the
need for parental monitoring with regard to these concerns?
COGNITIVE CHANGES (pp. 217-222)
Language
LO 9.4 How do vocabulary and other aspects of language change during middle childhood?
By age 5 or 6, virtually all children master the basic grammar and pronunciation of their native language.
They have, however, much more to learn to reach an adult-like language. During middle childhood,
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.4, p. 217)
List factors that would impact whether a child’s increase in vocabulary was 5,000 or 10,000 words per
year.
Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage
LO 9.5 What cognitive advantages do children gain as they move through Piaget’s concrete operational
stage?
By age 6, most children have begun to show some signs of the concrete operational stage. This stage is
devoted to the construction of schemes that enable children to think logically about objects and events in
the real world.
The stage takes its name from a set of immensely powerful schemes Piaget called concrete operations.
The operations include mental processes such as decentration (the opposite of centration—thinking in
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.5, p. 218)
Why do you suppose Piaget emphasized the importance of reversibility?
Piaget also proposed that during this stage the children develop the ability to use inductive logic, going
from her own experience to a general principle. However, elementary school children are not yet good at
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.5, p. 218)
Make a brief list of the things you would do if you were president of the United States. How do your
ideas differ from those in the fifth–graders’ composition? How does your thinking demonstrate more
mature deductive logic?
Direct Tests of Piaget’s View
LO 9.6 What is horizontal decalage, and how does Siegler explain concrete operational thinking?
Piaget understood that it took children some years to apply these new cognitive skills to all kinds of
Horizontal Decalage
Researchers have generally found that Piaget was right in his assertion that concrete operational schemes
are acquired gradually across the six- to twelve-year-old period. Studies of conservation consistently
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.6, p. 219)
Give examples of conservation and class inclusion. How does it apply to the concept of horizontal
decalage?
Concrete Operations as Rules for Problem-Solving
Other psychologists have conceptualized performance on concrete operational tasks in terms of rules for
problem-solving. Robert Siegler argues that cognitive development consists of acquiring a set of basic
Siegler performed a test with a balance scale and a series of pegs on either side of the center. The child is
asked to predict which way the balance will fall, depending on the location and number of discs placed on
the pegs. A complete solution requires the child to take into account both the number of discs on each
side and the specific location of the discs. He discovered that four rules will develop:
▪ Rule I is basically a “preoperational” rule taking into account only one dimension.
▪ Rule II is a transitional rule. The child still judges only on the basis of number, except when the same
Virtually all children perform as if they are following one or another of these rules, and the rules seem to
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.7, pp. 219-220)
Give examples of each of Siegler’s rules.
Advances in Information-Processing Skills
LO 9.7 How do children’s information-processing skills improve during middle childhood?
Across the middle childhood years, children are able to remember longer and longer lists of numbers,
letters, or words. In fact, their memories function well enough that their testimony about events they have
witnessed is usually accurate enough to be regarded as reliable in judicial proceedings.
Processing Efficiency
Processing efficiency, the ability to make efficient use of short-term memory capacity, increases steadily
with age, a change that most developmentalists now see as the basis on which cognitive development
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.7, p. 220)
Why do you suppose processing efficiency is the basis on which cognitive development occurs?
Automaticity
One of the most important ways in which processing efficiency grows in middle childhood is through the
acquisition of automaticity, or the ability to recall information from long-term memory without using
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.7, pp. 220-221)
What does the information about automatization suggest to you about the importance of memorizing math
facts such as multiplication tables?
Automaticity is achieved primarily through practice, and it is important throughout the lifespan. It is in
middle childhood, however, when children seem to begin automatizing large quantities of information
and skills at a fairly rapid rate.
Executive and Strategic Processes
Metacognition—knowing about knowing or thinking about thinking—is part of a large group of skills
known as executive processes: planning what to do and considering alternative strategies based on a
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.7, p. 221)
Give examples of executive process and memory strategies.
Expertise
A great deal of research shows that the amount of knowledge a person possesses makes a huge difference
in how efficiently the information-processing system works. Children and adults who know a lot about a
topic categorize information in that area in more complex and hierarchical ways. They are also better at
remembering and logically analyzing new information on that topic. Additionally, children’s capacity for
creativity appears to greatly depend on how much knowledge they have about a topic.
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.7, p. 222)
Why do you suppose creativity is tied to expertise?
Even the typical age differences in strategy use or memory ability disappear when the younger group has
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.7, p. 222)
Think about your own areas of expertise and the areas about which you have little knowledge. Can you
see any differences in the way you think about these different areas, in the form of logic you use, or the
way you go about remembering?
Critical Thinking Questions (Learning Objectives 9.4-9.7, pp. 217-222)
In what ways do advances in language, reasoning, and information-processing skills help children
succeed in school? How do you think schooling influences these skills?
SCHOOLING (pp. 222-231)
MyPsychLab Connections
Watch: Teaching in a Bilingual Classroom, p. 224
Watch: Boys in Crisis, p. 227
Children all over the world begin school at age 6 or 7. Because of its academic focus and the amount of
time that children spend in school, formal education is one of the most important influences on the
cognitive development of 6- to 12-year-olds.
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.8, pp. 222-223)
How do you think your elementary school experiences affected the rest of your life?
Literacy
LO 9.8 What should be included in an effective literacy curriculum?
In the industrialized world, literacy, the ability to read and write, is the focus of education in the 6- to 12-
year-old period. The skills children bring to school from their early childhood experiences may influence
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.8, p. 223)
Give examples of how parents and family members can help children gain these skills for literacy.
Some of the strategies used to teach reading also help children learn to write, the other component of
literacy. Instruction in sound-symbol connections helps children learn to spell, as well as to read. Good
writing also involves instruction and practice, just as reading does. Children need to learn about writing
techniques such as outlining and paragraph development to become good writers. They also need to learn
Discussion Launcher (Learning Objective 9.8, pp. 223-224)
List ways that parents and family members can assume some of the responsibility of children’s literacy.
Second-Language Learners
LO 9.9 How do bilingual and ESL approaches to second-language instruction differ?