THE PRIMARY SCHOOLER OR THE MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.”

Deepak Chopia, Indian Physician and Author

INTRODUCTION

Middle childhood is the stage when children undergo so many different changes-
physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. This is the stage between 6 to 12 years old.
Children in this stage receive less attention than children in infancy or early childhood. The
support of the family and friends of the child is very important during this phase of development.

Physical Development of Primary Pupil

Physical Development involves many different factors like height, weight, appearance,
visual, hearing and motor abilities. Primary school children undergo many different changes as
they go through this stage of development. This could be caused by different factors: both natural
and environmental.

Physical growth during the primary school years is slow but steady. During this stage,
physical development involves:

 Having good muscle control and coordination

 Developing eye-hand coordination
 Having good personal hygiene
 Being aware of good safety habits

Height and Weight

In this development stage, children will have started their elementary grades, specifically
their primary years- Grade 1 to 3. This period of gradual and steady growth will give children
time to get used to the changes in their bodies. An average increase in height of a little over two
inches a year in both boys and girls will introduce them to many different activities.

Weight gain averages about 6.5 pounds a year. Most children will have slimmer
appearance compared to their preschool years because of the shift in accumulation and location
of their body fats.

A number of factors could indicate how much a child grows, or how much changes in the
body will take place:

 Genes
 Food
 Climate
 Exercise
 Medical conditions
 Diseases/Illness
Bones and Muscles

Childhood years are the peak bone-producing years. This is the best time to teach
children of good dietary and exercises habits to help them have strong, healthy bones throughout
their lives. Many lifestyle factors, like nutrition and physical activity, can substantially influence
the increase of bone mass during [Link] children’s bones have proportionately more
water and protein-like materials and fewer minerals than adults, ensuring adequate calcium
intake will greatly help them in strengthening bones and muscles.

Motor Development

Young school-aged children are gaining control over the major muscles of their bodies.
Children in this stage love to move a lot- they run, skip, hop, jump, tumble, roll and dance.
Because their gross motor skills are already developed, they can now perform activities like
catching a ball with one hand, tying their shoelaces, they can manage zippers and buttons.

Performing unimanual(require the use of one hand) and bi-manual (require the use of
two hands) activities becomes easier. Children’s graphic activities, such as writing and drawing,
are now more controlled but are still developing.

Motor development skills include coordination, balance, speed, agility and power.
Definitions of the different motor skills:

 Coordination – is a series of movements organized and timed to occur in a particular

way to bring about a particular way to bring about a particular way to bring about
particular result
 Balance – is the child’s ability to maintain the equilibrium or stability of his/her body in
different positions.
a) Static Balance – is the ability to maintain equilibrium in a fixed position,
like balancing on one foot.
b) Dynamic Balance- is the ability to maintain equilibrium while moving.
 Speed – is the ability to cover a great distance in the shortest possible time while agility
is one’s ability to quickly change or shift the direction of the body.
 Power – is the ability to perform a maximum effort in the shortest possible period.

Cognitive Development of Primary Schoolers

Jean Piaget is the foremost theorist when it comes to cognitive development. According
to him, intelligence is the basic mechanism of ensuring balance in the relations between the
person and the environment. Piaget described four main periods in cognitive development. For
Piaget, intellectual ability is not the same at different ages.

Jean Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage

Concrete operationis the third stage in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. It

spans from ages 7 to approximately 11 years. In this developmental stage, children have better
understanding of their thinking skills. Children begin to think logically about concrete events,
but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts, thus most of them still have a
hard time at problem solving.
  Logic

Concrete operational thinkers, according to Piaget, can already make use inductive logic.
Inductive logic involves thinking from specific experience to a general principle. But at
this stage, children have great difficulty in using Deductive logic or using a general
principle to determine the outcome of a specific event

 Reversibility
One of the most important developments in this stage is an understanding of reversibility,
or awareness that actions can be reversed. (An example in arithmetic, 3+ 7 = 10 and 10 –
7 = 3)

Example:

Teacher: Jacob, do you have a brother?

Jacob: Yes.

Teacher: What’s his name?

Jacob: Matthew.

Teacher: Does Matthew have a brother?

Jacob: Yes.

Is Jacob capable of reversibility?

Cognitive Milestones

Elementary-aged children encounter developmental milestones. They develop

certain skills within a particular time frame. The skills they learn are in a sequential
manner, meaning they need to understand numbers before they can perform a
mathematical equation.

Up until age 8, a child learns new skills at a rapid pace. Once they reach the age
of 8, the skills they learn start to level off and it usually is a steady increase of new skills.

Informational-Processing Skills

Several theorists argue that like the computer, the human mind is a system that
can process information through the application of logical rules and strategies. They also
believe that the mind receives information, performs operations to change its form and
content, stores and locates it and generates responses from it.

The general model of informational processing theory includes three components:

a) Sensory Memory – in sensory memory, information is gathered via the senses through a
process called transduction.
b) Short term Memory/Working Memory
c) Long term Memory
Socio-Emotional Development
The developmental theorist, Erik Erikson, formulated eight stages of man’s psychosocial
development. Each stage is regarded as a “psychosocial crisis” which arises and demands
resolution before the next stage can be achieved.

Primary school children belong to the fourth stage of Erikson’s psychosocial stage. Here,
children have to resolve the issue on Industry vs. Inferiority.

Erik Erikson’s Fourth Stage of Psychosocial Development

Industry vs. Inferiority is the psychosocial crisis that children will have to resolve in this
stage. Industry refers to a child’s involvement in situations where long, patient work is demanded
of them, while inferiority is the feeling created when a child gets a feeling of failure when they
cannot finish or master their work.

School experiences become the priority, with children so busy doing school work. The
encouragement of parents and caring educators helps to build child’s sense of self-esteem,
strengthening their confidence and ability to interact positively in the world.

Understanding the Self

One’s self-concept is the knowledge about the self, such as beliefs regarding personality
traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals and roles. It also involves a sense of
belonging and acceptance, a sense of good and a sense of being capable of doing good.

Primary school children’s self-concept is influenced not only by their parents, but also by
the growing number of people they begin to interact with, including teachers and classmates.
They are comfortable and show confidence in doing things they are good at, but also show
frustration in things that they find difficult.

School Years

In the transition from pre-elementary to primary school, children tend to become

increasingly self-confident and able to cope well with social interactions. The issues of fairness
and equality become important to them as they learn to care for people who are not part of their
families.

Building Friendships

Making friends is a crucial but very important part of children’s social and emotional
growth. Children, during this stage, most likely belong to a peer group. Peer Groups are
characterized by children who belong approximately to the same age group and same social
economic status. They may play well with groups but may need some time to play alone.

Primary school children prefer to belong to peer groups of the same gender. Many
children will use their surroundings to observe and mingle with other children. Some will see this
as an opportunity to make friends while others remain a bit of a loner.

Antisocial Behavior

Some adult may perceive that some children’s behavior towards other children as
antisocial. When children poke, pull, hit or kick other children when they are first introduced, it
is fairly normal. Remember that children at this stage are still forming their own world views and
other children may seem like a curiosity that they need to explore. Parents and teachers can help
children make friends. You can consider the following:

 Expose the children to kid-rich environment

 Create a play group in your class
 When your children hit other children, remind them that their behavior hurts
other.
 Coordinate with the parents and other teachers so that their children will have
greater opportunity to interact with other children.

Self-Control

Once children reach school age, they begin to take pride in their ability to do things and
their capacity to exert effort. They like receiving positive feedback from their parents and
teachers. This becomes a great opportunity for parents and teachers to encourage positive
emotional responses from children by acknowledging their mature, compassionate behaviors.

Prepared by:

Group 3 BEED-BSCRIM 1A

Checked by:

Ariel [Link]
Instructor