Chapter 6

Chapter 6- Cognitive and Physical Development in Middle Childhood

In chapter 6 , we read about everything from child memory development, Intelligence and how it is measured, creativity, academics in school, to the physical development of our children. I guess i am pretty lucky to have a child that is actually going through   of what is being discussed in this chapter. My son Ethan, who is 11, happens to be in what Piaget’s theory describes as “The Concrete-Operational Period”. And as i was reading this chapter I could place examples of him in just about every area. So that is what I shall do.

Memory;

The text discusses memory strategies such as organization and elaboration. My son has been taking guitar lessons since the age of 5, and although the first couple of years I had a very hard time listening to him practice for very long, it was just lots of screeching noises, I had him practice, and still do , 30 minutes to an hour daily. He used to complain about having to do this, but I would explain to him how constant repetition would help him remember the notes and the cords he was learning. And now 6 years later he can read just about any piece of music you put in front of him. It goes on to talk about metacognitive knowledge, or the knowledge and awareness of cognitive process, and one of the most important features of this knowledge is the understanding of the connections among goals, strategies, monitoring, and outcomes. A couple years ago he starting playing tackle football, we live in Lynden so football is a big deal, and it was fascinating that when I read this I realized that he was doing this. Example; he, and his team members would determine the goal-getting yardage or blocking other team from getting yardage, Select strategy selecting which play would be best to obtain the goal, based on other teams prior performance, use strategy-perform selected play, monitoring strategy-was play effective.

Intelligence;

The text discussed a couple different view’s and theories, but Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence made the most sense to me. Gardner believed that schools should focus on all intelligences, not just the traditional reading, writing, and math. And that teachers need to be aware of how their students individual intelligences and how they will best learn material. Which leads us into Sternberg’s Theory which states “Achieving one’s goals by using one’s skills defines successful intelligence. instruction is most effective when it is geared to one’s strength.” In my opinion every child is learns differently and , as is discussed later in the chapter regarding cultural and ethnicity factors r/t intelligence,  stereotyping a child may convince them to think that they are destined to be not as smart as another child of different culture or ethnicity group, they may never reach their full potential. The best example of this that comes to mind is “Forrest Gump”, great movie, here is this child that has been asked all his life “are you stupid or something?” because of the stereotyping that because he had a lower IQ he was stupid. And as we see throughout the movie he is the cause/ or part  of some of the most important moments in our countries history. This leads me into the subject of mental retardation, I happen to know quit a few individuals that are considered to be mentally retarded and most of them are the happiest, friendliest people I have every meet. The lack of “intelligence”, not that they are stupid in any way, is what make them able to be this way, my opinion only.

Learning disabilities & ADHD;

I have been fortunate not to have to have had my children have to face such obstacles, but I feel that a better understanding and skills to deal with these disorders are a necessary step for parents and teachers alike is the only way to really help these children. I think a lack of knowledge is what keep those who blame ethnicity and parenting able to continue stereotyping these children and their families. 

Academic skills;

As the text discusses, the american education system is severely flawed. Every other major county is ahead of us. I feel that we as parents are to blame more that any other. Living in Lynden I have seen it first hand. The Lynden public school system  a large portion of the parents are so concerned with their sports that it lax in our academics and art programs. More money is spent on winning sporting titles than is on academic and arts. Please do not  think I do not support sports because I do , I teaches many, many valuable lessons, but I feel that every area should be as important. (there’s my complaint, I can move on) More emphasis need to be placed on bringing our education system up to par with the rest of the world. And as the text discusses we need to learn ways to teach our children as individuals with their own  ways of learning. Teachers need to be better trained, parents need to be more involved.