Chapter 5

Physical and Cognitive Development in Childhood

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 PHYSICAL CHANGES

• Preschool years, boys and girls slim down; trunk of the body lengthens
• Head is still large for the body, by the end of the preschool years most children have lost the top-heavy
look
• Body fat shows a slow, steady decline during the preschool years 
• Middle and late childhood involves slow, consistent growth
• Elementary school years, children grow an average of 5 to 7.5 cm a year until, at the age of 11, the average
child is just under 1.5 m tall
• Muscle mass/strength increase with improved muscle tone

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THE BRAIN

• Brain and nervous system change significantly

• Overall size of the brain does not hugely increase from ages 3 to 5, but local patterns within the brain
change dramatically
• Amount of brain material in some areas can nearly double in as little as a year; dramatic loss of tissue as
unneeded cells die off and the brain continues to reorganize
• From 3 to 6 years of age the most rapid growth in the brain takes place in the part of the frontal lobes
known as the prefrontal cortex  

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PREFRONTAL CORTEX

• Research found less diffusion and more focal activation in prefrontal cortex between 7 and 30
years of age
• Shift in activation accompanied by increased efficiency in cognitive performance,
especially cognitive control
• Myelination in areas of the brain related to hand-eye coordination complete approx. age 4
• Myelination related to areas focusing attention complete approx. end of middle or late childhood.
• Myelination of many aspects of prefrontal cortex, especially those involving higher-level thinking skills, is not
complete until late adolescence or emerging adulthood

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MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Gross motor skills
• Approx. 3 yr., children enjoy simple movements, for the accomplishment and pride
• Approx. 4 yr., children still enjoy same activities, but they are more adventurous
• Middle and late childhood, children’s motor skills become smoother and more coordinated
Fine motor control
• Approx. 5 yr., hand, arm, body all move together under better command of the eye 
• Improved fine motor skills in middle/late childhood with increased myelination in central nervous system
• Approx. 10 - 12 yr., begin to show manipulative skills similar to the abilities of adults
• Girls usually outperform boys in their use of fine motor skills 

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WELL-BEING
• Sleep requirements for young children vary between 11 to 13 hours each night
• National Association for Sport and Physical Education (2002) guidelines recommend 15 minutes of physical
activity per hour over a 12-hour period
• The Canadian Pediatric Society recommends 1 or 2 hours of screen activity per day
• Obesity continues to reach epidemic proportions (Public Health Agency, 2017)

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COGNITIVE CHANGES

Growing children show greater capacity for learning, focused attention, memory, executive function
Preoperational stage (Piaget) -(app. 2 – 7 yr.)
• Children represent the world with words, images, and drawings
• Form stable concepts and begin to reason
• Reasoning skill still not fully developed
• Centration, - focusing of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others
• Egocentrism  - inability to distinguish one’s own perspective and someone else’s 
• Animism - belief that inanimate objects have life-like qualities, capable of action 
• Conservation - lack awareness that altering an object or substance’s appearance does not change its basic
properties. 
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SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM (Vygotsky)

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)  - task range too difficult for child to master alone; can be learned with
guidance/assistance of adults or more skilled children
Lower limit of the ZPD - level of skill reached by the child working independently
Upper limit - level of additional responsibility the child can accept with the assistance of an able instructor
Closely linked to the ZPD is the concept of scaffolding.
• Scaffolding  - changing support level; adjusting amount of guidance to fit the child

• Scaffolding techniques that heighten engagement  encourage direct exploration and facilitate “sense-making”

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ATTENTION

The ability to pay attention improves significantly during the preschool year, especially in two aspects:
Executive attention  - involves planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for
errors, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or difficult circumstances
Sustained attention (vigilance) - focused, extended engagement with task

The preschool child’s control of attention is still developing:

Salient versus relevant dimensions  - more likely to pay attention to stimuli that stand out (salient), even if
they are irrelevant
• after age 6 or 7, they attend more efficiently to the relevant aspects, reflecting cognitive control of attention

Planfulness  - elementary-school-age children are more likely to systematically compare the details, one detail
at a time

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 3 TYPES OF MEMORY
1. Short-Term Memory  - individuals retain information for up to 30 seconds if there is no rehearsal. Rehearsal strategy
(repeating information) increases short-term memory; older children more likely to rehearse
• Strategies  - deliberate mental activities to improve the processing of information, but require effort and work
• Speed of cognitive tasks improves dramatically in childhood years, a pattern attributable to myelination of neurons
2. Working Memory  - Mental “workbench” to manipulate and assemble information to make decisions, solve problems,
comprehend written and spoken language; develops slowly
• More active and powerful in modifying information

3. Long-term Memory  - relatively permanent and unlimited type of memory that increases with age during middle and
late childhood
• Children actively construct their memory forming knowledge, expertise which influence long-term memory
• Knowledge and expertise - experts have acquired extensive knowledge about particular content which influences
what they notice and how they organize, represent, interpret information
MEMORY Continued…
Autobiographical Memory: Developing a sense of self requires building a story of one’s life, or an
autobiography, based on memory of significant events and experiences in life. 

Fuzzy trace theory  - memory is understood best by two types of memory representations:
1. Verbatim memory trace - precise details of the information
2. Gist  - refers to the central idea of the information.

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EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

• Self-control/inhibition  - need to develop self-control that allows them to concentrate on and persist in
learning tasks
• Working memory  - need effective working memory to mentally work masses of information
• Flexibility  - need to be flexible in thinking to consider different strategies and perspectives

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THINKING & INTELLIGENCE

Thinking is manipulating and transforming information in memory. There are two important aspects of thinking:

1. Critical Thinking  - thinking reflectively/productively, evaluating facts

2. Creative Thinking  - ability to think in novel/unusual ways and come up with unique solutions to problems
• convergent thinking - produces one correct answer
• divergent thinking - which produces many different answers to the same question and characterizes
creativity

Intelligence
• ability to solve problems; adapt and learn from experiences
• focused on individual differences/assessment 
• individual differences are the stable, consistent ways people differ from each other

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 MEASURING INTELLIGENCE
The Binet Tests: concept of mental age (MA); IQ = MC/CA (chronological age) x100

Stanford-Binet Test: administering test to numerous people of different ages (preschool - late
adulthood), different backgrounds; scores on the Stanford-Binet test approximate a normal distribution
• normal distribution is symmetrical; majority of the scores falling in the middle of possible range of scores and a
few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range

Wecshler Scales: another set of tests widely used to assess students’ intelligence at various ages
• subscales provide an overall IQ score, but yield several composite indexes, such as the Verbal Comprehension
Index, the Working Memory Index, and the Processing Speed Index

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TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory  - intelligence comes in three forms:

1. Analytical intelligence - analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast
2. Creative intelligence - create, design, invent, originate and imagine
3. Practical intelligence - use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice

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TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE Continued…
Gardner’s Eight Frames of Mind  - eight types intelligence/“frames of mind”:
1. Verbal - think in words, language to express meaning
2. Mathematical - carry out mathematical operations
3. Spatial - think three-dimensionally
4. Bodily-kinesthetic - manipulate objects and be physically adept
5. Musical - sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone
6. Interpersonal - understand/interact effectively with others
7. Intrapersonal  - ability to understand oneself
8. Naturalist  - observe nature patterns; understand natural/human world

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INTELLIGENCE Continued…
Culture and Intelligence
• Interpretation of scores on intelligence tests is a controversial topic
• Researchers agree that genetics and environment interact to influence intelligence
• Worldwide increase in intelligence test scores has occurred over a short time frame has been called
the Flynn effect 

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LEARNING DISABILITIES

Children with learning disability:

• Are of normal intelligence or above
• Have difficulties in at least one academic area, usually several
• Have difficulty that is not attributable to any other diagnosed problem or disorder
Global concept of learning disabilities includes problems in listening, concentrating, speaking and thinking.  

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CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
Precise causes of learning disabilities have not yet been determined.
• Dyslexia - severe impairment in reading and spelling 
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)  - consistently shows one or more of these characteristics
over time:
• inattention
• hyperactivity
• impulsivity
• Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) - also called pervasive developmental disorders, range from autistic
disorder to Asperger syndrome 

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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Phonology  - sound system of a language, including sounds used and how they may be combined (p, h, ph)
Morphology  - units of meaning involved in word formation (e.g. children begin using the plural and
possessive forms of nouns)
Syntax - way words are combined to form acceptable phrases/sentences 
Semantics - aspect of language that refers to the meaning of words and sentences (early childhood)
Pragmatics - appropriate use of language in different contexts 

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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Vocabulary, Grammar and Metalinguistic Awareness

• Middle/late childhood, changes occur in the way children’s mental vocabulary is organized 
• Categorizing becomes easier as children increase their vocabulary
• Elementary school - improvement in logical reasoning/analytical skills helps them understand proper use
of comparatives and subjunctives
• Metalinguistic awareness - knowledge about language (e.g. knowing what a preposition is)

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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Continued…

Vocabulary, Grammar and Metalinguistic Awareness

• Whole-language approach  - reading instruction should parallel children’s natural language learning
• Phonics approach  - reading instruction should teach basic rules for translating written symbols into
sounds 

Second language learning

• Bilingual children seem to have smaller vocabulary in each language; not exposed to the same quantity
and quality of each
• Multiple sensitive periods for learning a second language
• Late language learners (adolescents, adults) may learn vocabulary more easily than new sounds or new
grammar

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SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Child-centred kindergarten - emphasizes educating whole child; promoting physical, cognitive,

socioemotional development
Montessori approach - children are given considerable freedom and spontaneity in choosing activities. They
are allowed to move from one activity to another as they desire, and the teacher acts as a facilitator rather
than a director.
Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) - creating settings to encourage children to be active learners  

Constructivist and Direct Instruction Approaches

• Constructivist approach  - learner centred, emphasizes importance of individuals actively constructing
their knowledge and understanding with guidance from the teacher 
• Direct instruction approach  - teacher centred, characterized by teacher direction and control, high
teacher expectations

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