Middle Childhood
Psychosocial Crisis:
Industry vs. Inferiority
Developmental Tasks
Friendship
 Concrete operations
 Skill learning
 Self-evaluation
 Team play
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Intelligence – what is it?
Variety of definitions:
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Crystallized vs. fluid
Intelligence Quotient
Gardner’s 8.5 Multiple Intelligences
Sternberg’s Successful Intelligence
Gardner’s 8.5 Multiple Intelligences
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Linguistic’
Musical,
Logical-mathematical
Spatial
Kinesthetic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalistic
Maybe existential
Sternberg’s Successful Intelligence
Four types of intelligence
 Analytical/componential
 Creative/experiential
 Practical
 Wisdom - Intrapersonal, interpersonal and
extrapersonal awareness
***Consider what we have done in this class.
Which activities fit into which type of
intelligence?
Middle childhood=increased cognitive
activity
Cognitive functioning – what is it?
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Capacity for knowing, organizing perceptions
and problem solving.
Education is the central process.
Piaget or Vygotsky?
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Both examined how cognition develops
Discovery or facilitation? Brain-ready?
Qualitative change or context driven?
3. Information processing: what are the cognitive
processes?
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Memory: short term, working, and long term
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http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stm0.html
http://cognitivefun.net/test/4
Memory increases because
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Better use of memory strategies
Increased knowledge
Improved cognitive inhibition
Faster info processing
Speed of processing is about 50% of
adult speed –
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Speed of processing info increases because
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Myelination increases
Neuronal pruning occurs – frontal lobe is most
dense at 7
Application of Developmental Assets, Cognitive
Development and Intelligence
Jimmy is in 5th grade and has already started skipping
school. His home life is chaotic and unstable and he
often wears clothes that fit poorly or are unclean. He
hates school because “nothing I do turns out right and I
don’t have any friends.” As you get to know Jimmy, you
discover that he loves comic books and he loves to draw.
After lots of encouragement, he shows you some of his
drawings and you are impressed. You also discover that
Jimmy likes to tell a good story. Unfortunately, the
typical school day doesn’t leave time for drawing or story
telling because he has special tutoring sessions to help
him catch up to grade level on reading, writing and
math.
You are starting a new elementary school
using as its foundation the Developmental
Assets Model and Gardner’s Theory of
Multiple Intelligences. Plan a learning
activity (it can last for days or even
weeks) that will foster the children’s sense
of industry and which incorporates as
many assets as possible.
Self Evaluation
Two pathways to self evaluation:
 Self-Efficacy
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Enactive attainments
Vicarious experience
Verbal persuasion
Physical state
Social Expectations
Teacher expectations
 Parental expectations
 Illusions of competence and incompetence
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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
0-18 months
Sensorimotor
Around 18 months - 5 or 6 years
Preoperational thought
6 or 7 – 11 or 12
Concrete operational thought
Adolescence – adulthood
Formal operational thought
Small groups
Consider the book’s brief discussion of
intelligence on pg. 292 as well as the
description of industry vs. inferiority.
As a group, come up with your own definition
of intelligence.
Operationalize the definition relevant to:
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School
A social situation
Explain how your definition relates to the
psychosocial crisis of industry vs. inferiority.
Apply It!
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In small groups, design an activity or a school
that promotes industry and competence in 612 year olds. Be creative.
Next, analyze your idea. Come up with the top
3 critical questions you need answers to in
order to decide if this is a sound idea.
Consider implementation of your idea: how
will you make this happen? what barriers
might you encounter? how can you get
around the barriers? what do you need to be
successful?
Report Back
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Did you incorporate Gardner’s or
Sternberg’s theories into your idea?
In what ways did your strategizing
session reflect Sternberg’s 3 components
of intelligence?
What else can you say about
intelligence, based on your strategizing?
Developmental Assets – The
Psychosocial Aspect
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Begun in 1990, 350,000 6-12th graders
surveyed.
Focused originally on youth of color and youth
from distressed communities.
Majority experienced 16-23 assets.
Negative correlation between assets and age.
Females tended to have more than males.
31 is identified as a good number, although it’s
not magical.
There are two categories-internal and external