How do elementary school children 6 – 11) think?

Building on theory

 What ideas are there about children’s thinking?
What did Piaget say?

 Focused on individual maturation
 Concrete operational thought
 Ability to reason things out if they have visual, concrete
examples
 Ability to organize into groups or categories
 Daisies, Roses, and Flowers
 Transition inference
 Ability to infer one fact from others
 E.g. Height of persons A,B, & C
 Seriation
 Logical sequence
 E.g. Largest to smallest
What did Vygotsky say?

 Focused on sociocultural context
 Instruction is essential
 “Apprentices in learning”
 Culture teaches
 Customs
 Mentors
 Sources of intellectual activity
 Families
 Preschool programs
 First grade
How the context (situation)
affects learning

 Learning math on paper =
good at school math
 Learning math with
money = good at math
with money
What is sensory memory?

 Sensory memory
 Stores stimuli for a split second
 Sensations become perceptions
 Perceptions are transferred to working (short-term)
memory
What is working
(short-term) memory?

 Crucial areas
 Phonological loop
 Stores sounds
 “I heard that before”
 Visual-spatial sketchpad
 Stores sights
 “I saw that before”
 Chunking is crucial
 E.g.: 1-800-HOLIDAY


1-800-FLOWERS
1-800-NOT2LATE
What is long-term memory?

 Storage and retrieval
 Retrieval is easier for vivid,
highly emotional experiences
 By middle adulthood, the
capacity for long term memory
is virtually limitless
How will your knowledge
base help you?

 More you know = more you can learn
 New concepts are best learned if connected to
personal and cultural experiences
Do you remember?

 Did Piaget focus on the individual or society?
 Which of Piaget’s stages is the elementary school
child in?
 What is needed for children to reason things out?
 Did Vygotsky focus on the individual or society?
 What is the difference between sensory, working
(short term) and long term memory?
 What helps to learn new concepts?
Language & Vocabulary

How do children understand
metaphors?

 Children can begin to
understand metaphors
 “He put his foot in his mouth”
 “I am tied up all day at the
office”
 “He left under a cloud of
suspicion”
How does vocabulary adjust
to the to situation?

 The pragmatics (the practical use) of language
 Understanding how tone of voice, word selection and
context may override the literal content of the speech.
 Older persons – Formal (Mr. Dr. Professor)
 Friends – Informal ( Bob, Jane )
 Symbols – Text messaging – abbreviations &
symbols
 E.g. – LOL, BFF, :-D
What causes differences in
language learning?

 What causes some children to learn language at a faster
rate than others?
 Family poverty
 Strong correlation between academic achievement and
socioeconomic status
 What causes this?




Language is a major factor
1. Limited early exposure to words in the family
2. Low teacher & parent expectations
3. Microsystem
 The broader society they interact with (locally and
nationally) can increase (or decrease) the use of more
sophisticated words.
Do you remember?

 Do children begin to understand metaphors at this
age?
 How do children use pragmatics?
 What can cause differences in language learning?
Teaching and learning

The “Hidden
Curriculum”

 Assumptions and expectations implied in the school
setting. E.g. Being quiet
American students raising
hands to respond
 Varies greatly by country
Students in
Bangladesh
standing up when
teacher enters
Learning a second
language

 Immersion
 Speaking the new language the entire
day
 (e.g. in a foreign country)
 Bilingual education
 Both languages taught in same
classroom
 ESL = English as a Second language
 Classes taught only in English to
non-English-speaking children
Religious education

 Separation of church and state
 = no religious education in public schools
Gender differences

 “Gender-similarities” hypothesis
 Both sexes are similar on most test measures
 Are differences due to nature, nurture, or a
combination?
U.S. – No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001

 Federal law
 Frequent testing against national standards to
measure school achievement
 Focus is on reading and math
 National Assessment of Educational Progress
 Federally sponsored tests in reading, math, and other
subjects
 No testing by the state = no federal funds
 Creates conflict between local control of curriculum
& national standards
Common Core
Standards Initiative

 Adopted by many states in place of federally
sponsored tests
 Reading, math, science, etc.
Who determines educational
practice?
Recent ideas for schools

 Charter schools
 Public schools
 Licensed by the state or local districts
 Use their own set of standards
 Voucher system
 Used for public or private schools
 Encourages competition between schools
 One problem = separation of church and state
Do you remember?

 What is the hidden curriculum?
 If I am living in a country, what method am I
probably using to learn that language?
 What is the “No Child Left Behind” strategy?
 How does it differ from the “Common Core
Standards” in testing strategy?
