Physical and
Cognitive
Development in
Middle Childhood
AspectsofPhysical Development
Growth during middle childhoods slows considerably.
Strength and athletic skills improve.
Respiratory illnesses are common but health is generally
better than at any other time in the life span.
Nutrition
The recommended calories per day for school children 9 to
13 years of age range from 1,400 to 2,600, depending on
gender and activity level.
As children grow older, pressures and opportunities for
unhealthy eating increase.
Nutrition education in schools can be helpful when combined
with parental education and changes in school lunch menus.
Sleep
causes of sleep disruption:
Exposure to media screens
Physical inactivity
Secondhand smoke
Poor housing
Vandalism
Lack of parks and playgrounds
A child snores can be affected by a variety of factors, including age, gender,
race, family susceptibility, chronic health problems, and overweight.
Persistent snoring, at least three times a week, may indicate a child has sleep-
disordered breathing.
BrainDevelopment
A number of cognitive advances occur in middle childhood
that can be traced back to changes in the brain’s structure
and functioning.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology shows us
that the brain consists of both gray matter and white
matter.
The loss in density of gray matter with age is balanced by
another change—a steady increase in white matter.
BrainDevelopment
Motor Development and Physical Activity
Motor skills continue to improve in middle childhood.
Recess
Most of recess activity involves socializing with peers. When
provided with more playground equipment, children tend to be
more active during recess.
Younger children spend more time running and chasing each
other.
Organized Sports
Household income is a major factor impacting the ability of children to
participate.
Developmental changes determine what types of organized sports are
most effective.
Health, Fitness, and Safety
The development of vaccines for major childhood illnesses has made
middle childhood a relatively safe time of life in most of the world.
Obesity and Body Image
Overweight, a body mass index between the 85th and 95th percentile, and obesity, a
body mass index over the 95th percentile, have become a major health issue for
children worldwide.
Children who try to lose weight are not always the ones who need to do so.
Causesof Obesity
Obesity can result from an inherited tendency aggravated
by too little exercise and too much or the wrong kinds of
food.
Inactivity is a major factor in the sharp rise in overweight
children.
Impactof Overweight
high blood pressure
high cholesterol
high insulin levels
Prevention and Treatment
Research supports efforts focused on overall lifestyle
changes rather than narrowly defined diets or exercise
programs.
Other Medical Conditions
Illness in middle childhood tends to be brief.
Two chronic conditions that have become increasingly
common are asthma and diabetes.
Asthma is a chronic, allergy-based respiratory disease
characterized by sudden attacks of coughing, wheezing, and
difficulty breathing.
Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in school- aged
children.
Childhood Hypertension - risk factors include obesity or
overweight, salt intake, sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep quality,
and race.
Accidental Injuries - injuries are the leading cause of
accidental death among school-age.
Cognitive Development
Piagetian Approach: The Concrete
Operational Child
According to Piaget
• At the age of 7, children enter the stage of concrete operation
• Children can think logically, basis of multiple aspect of situation
• There thinking still limited to real situation
Cognitive Advances
The stage of concrete operation children has a better
understanding than Pre-operation children of spatial concept.
COGNITIVE ADVANCES
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIP
Children's understanding of how objects and
people move in relation to each other.
CAUSALITY
Another development during middle childhood involves
the physical judgment.
5 to 12 years old asked to predict how balance scale
work, older children give more correct answer.
SERIATION
Ability to order items along dimension
CATEGORIZATION Transitive Interference
Arranging Better Seriation
Number Class Inclusion
Highest to lowest
Lightest to Darkness Deductive Reasoning
Information Processing Approach;
Planning, Attention, and Memory
executive skills, reaction time, processing sleep, and selective attention
Information ProcessingApproach:
Executive Function, Mnemonic Device
External Memory Aid, Rehearsal
Organization, Elaboration, Metamemory
PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH:
ASSESSMENT OF INTELLIGENCE
There are a lot of assessment that can test in this stage, such as IQ test and
measured intelligence
- Wechsler intelligence scales for children (WISC-IV) Theory of multiple intelligence
- Culture-free test Culture-fair test
- Triarchic theory of intelligence
- Componential Element
- Experimental Element
- Contextual Element Tacit knowledge
- Kaufman assessment battery for children (K-ABC-II Dynamic Test
LANGUAGEANDLITERACY
Pragmatics
English immersion approach
Bilingual education Whole language approach
Bilingual Visually Based retrieval
Two-way ( Dual-language) learning Metacognition
Decoding
Phonetic (Code-emphasis) approach
THECHILDRENINSCHOOL
Children's self-efficacy beliefs affects school achievement
Girls tend to do better in school than boys
Intellectual
disability Dyslexia Convergent thinking
Learning Disabilities Divergent thinking
Attention defecit/ Enrichment program
hyperactivity disorder Acceleration program
Creativity
References
Papalia, D. E., & Martorell, G. (2021). Experience Human
Development. 14e
Mcilroy, T. (2023, January 20). 14 Hands-On Seriation Activities
for Preschoolers - Empowered Parents. Empowered Parents.
[Link]
preschoolers/
