5 Chapter 5: Middle Childhood
Chapter Objectives
After this chapter, you should be able to:
- Describe the patterns of physical growth
- Summarize nutrition needs
- Explain the causes of obesity and the negative consequences of excessive weight gain
- Explain how cognitive theorists describe children’s cognitive development and thinking in the middle years.
- Describe the Information Processing Theory
- The process of learning to read
- The influences of digital technology on communication, language and literacy
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Describe the continuum of development of emotional skills during middle childhood
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Discuss Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
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Discuss childhood mental health issues
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Explain resilience
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Describe self-understanding, motivation self-efficacy in middle childhood
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Explain gender identity
- Describe the continuum of development of social skills during middle childhood
- Describe social theories of development
- Examine the importance of positive friendships and peer relationships
- Explain aggression, antisocial behaviour, and bullying.
- Describe spiritual development and how children develop values, meaning and a sense of belonging
why it matters: Middle Childhood
Middle childhood is the period of life that begins when children enter school and lasts until they reach adolescence. Think for a moment about children at this age that you may know. What are their lives like? What kinds of concerns do they express and with what kinds of activities are their days filled? If it were possible, would you want to return to this period of life? Why or why not?
Early childhood and adolescence seem to get much more attention than middle childhood. Perhaps this is because growth patterns slow at this time, the id becomes hidden during the latent stage, according to Freud, and children spend much more time in schools, with friends, and in structured activities. It may be easy for parents to lose track of their children’s development unless they stay directly involved in these worlds. It is important to stop and give full attention to middle childhood to stay in touch with these children and to take notice of the varied influences on their lives in a larger world. After all, they are developing in many incredible ways.
physical growth and development in middle childhood
Children enter middle childhood still looking very young, and end the stage on the cusp of adolescence. Most children have gone through a growth spurt that makes them look rather grown-up. The obvious physical changes are accompanied by changes in the brain. While we don’t see the actual brain changing, we can see the effects of the brain changes in the way that children in middle childhood play sports, write, and play games.
brain development
The brain reaches its adult size at about age 7. Then between 10 and 12 years of age, the frontal lobes become more developed and improvements in logic, planning, and memory are evident (van der Molen & Molenaar, 1994, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). The school-aged child is better able to plan and coordinate activity using both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, which control the development of emotions, physical abilities, and intellectual capabilities. The attention span also improves as the prefrontal cortex matures. The myelin also continues to develop and the child’s reaction time improves as well. Myelination improvement is one factor responsible for these growths.
From age 6 to 12, the nerve cells in the association areas of the brain, that is those areas where sensory, motor, and intellectual functioning connect, become almost completely myelinated (Johnson, 2005, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). This myelination contributes to increases in information processing speed and the child’s reaction time. The hippocampus, which is responsible for transferring information from the short-term to long-term memory, also shows increases in myelination resulting in improvements in memory functioning (Rolls, 2000, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
The human brain. (Image by DJ is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
physical growth and motor skills
Middle childhood spans the years between early childhood and adolescence, children are approximately 6 to 12 years old. While growth spurts can happen, in general physical growth rates are generally slow and steady during these years. (Spreen, Riser, & Edgell, 1995, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Typically, a child will gain about 5-7 pounds a year and grow about 2 inches per year. They also tend to slim down and gain muscle strength. As bones lengthen and broaden and muscles strengthen, many children want to engage in strenuous physical activity and can participate for longer periods of time. In addition, the rate of growth for the extremities is faster than for the trunk, which results in more adult-like proportions. Long-bone growth stretches muscles and ligaments, which results in many children experiencing growing pains, at night, in particular.
Dieticians of Canada (2014a)
Dieticians of Canada (2014b).
As you can see from the above charts, there is a similarity in the average heights and weights of boys and girls during this developmental stage. For instance, at the age of 6 boys in the 50th percentile weigh 47 pounds (21.32 kg) and are 45.5 inches (115.5cm) tall and girls measure in at 46 pounds (20.87 kg) and 45 inches(113.3 cm) tall. At the age of 9, boys in the 50th percentile weigh 52 pounds (23.59 kg) and are 62 inches (157.48 cm) tall and girls measure at the same. It also should be noted here that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends Body Mass Index (BMI) as the best measure of weight after age 10, due to variable age of puberty and tracking weight alone is not advised (Dieticians of Canada, 2014b). According to the Childhood Obesity Foundation (n.d.), BMI is an indirect indicator of body fat. It is a measurement based on height and weight that tells if a child, or adult, is in a healthy range compared to their peers. It should be noted that BMI may not be an accurate indicator of body fat if your child is very muscular. There are lots of online tools available to calculate BMI in children. Check out this BMI Calculators.
Beyond height and weight, a child’s physical growth can be seen in other ways. Children between ages 6 and 12, show significant improvement in their abilities to perform physical motor skills. This development growth allows children to gain greater control over the movement of their bodies, mastering many gross motor skills that were beyond that of the younger child. During these middle childhood years, the development of gross motor skills continues to focus on increasing coordination, speed, and endurance (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014).
Specifically, the gross motor skills that we see strengthen most, in children aged 6-12, are:
- Running: increasing control, speed and coordination;
- Jumping: jumping vertically increases in height, standing broad jump increases in length;
- Throwing: throwing speed, distance and accuracy improve;
- Catching: catching small balls over greater distances;
- Kicking: kicking speed and accuracy improve (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014).
nutritional needs
A number of factors can influence children’s eating habits and attitudes toward food. Family environment, societal trends, taste preferences, and messages in the media all impact the emotions that children develop in relation to their diet. Television commercials can entice children to consume sugary products, fatty fast foods, excess calories, refined ingredients, and sodium. Therefore, it is critical that caregivers support children with making healthy nutritional choices by reinforcing good eating habits and by introducing new foods into the diet, while remaining mindful of a child’s preferences. Caregivers should also serve as role models for children, who will often mimic their behaviour and eating habits. Let’s think for a moment about what our parents and grandparents used to eat? What are some of the differences that you may have experienced as a child?
One hundred years ago, as families sat down to dinner, they might have eaten boiled potatoes or corn, leafy vegetables such as cabbage or collards, fresh-baked bread, and, if they were fortunate, a small amount of beef or chicken. Young and old alike benefitted from a sound diet that packed a real nutritional punch. Times have changed. Many families today fill their dinner plates with fatty foods, such as French Fries cooked in vegetable oil, a hamburger that contains several ounces of ground beef, and a white-bread bun, with a single piece of lettuce and a slice or two of tomato as the only vegetables served with the meal.
A modern meal. ( Image is licensed under CCO)
Our diet has changed drastically as processed foods, which did not exist a century ago, and animal-based foods now account for a large percentage of our calories. Not only has what we eat changed, but the amount of it that we consume has greatly increased as well, as plates and portion sizes have grown much larger. All of these choices impact our health, with short- and long-term consequences as we age. Possible effects in the short-term include excess weight gain and constipation. The possible long-term effects, primarily related to obesity, include the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, as well as other health and emotional problems for children.
During middle childhood, a healthy diet facilitates physical, social/emotional and cognitive development and helps to maintain health and wellness. School-aged children experience steady, consistent growth, but at a slower rate than they did in early childhood. This slowed growth rate can have a lasting impact if nutritional, caloric, and activity levels aren’t adjusted in middle childhood which can lead to excessive weight gain early in life and can lead to obesity into adolescence and adulthood. Making sure that children have proper nutrients will allow for optimal growth and development.
Government of Canada (2020)
The Government of Canada (2020), via their Canada Food Guide, recommends that individuals over the age of six:
- Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods and protein foods. Choose protein foods that come from plants more often.
- Choose foods with healthy fats instead of saturated fat
- Limit highly processed foods. If you choose these foods, eat them less often and in small amounts.
- Prepare meals and snacks using ingredients that have little to no added sodium, sugars or saturated fat
- Choose healthier menu options when eating out
- Make water your drink of choice
- Replace sugary drinks with water
- Use food labels
- Be aware of food marketing
Caregivers should teach children that healthy eating is more than the foods you eat. The Government of Canada (2020) recommends that we:
- Be mindful of eating habits (take time to eat; notice when full/hungry),
- Cook more often (plan what to eat; involve others in the preparation).
- Enjoy food
- Eat meals with others
One way to encourage children to eat healthy foods is to make meal and snack time fun and interesting. Parents should include children in food planning and preparation, for example selecting items while grocery shopping or helping to prepare part of a meal, such as making a salad. At this time, parents can also educate children about kitchen safety. It might be helpful to cut sandwiches, meats, or pancakes into small or interesting shapes. In addition, parents should offer nutritious desserts, such as fresh fruits, instead of calorie-laden cookies, cakes, salty snacks, and ice cream. Studies show that children who eat family meals on a frequent basis consume more nutritious foods.
Being Overweight and Obesity in Children
Excess weight and obesity in children are associated with a variety of medical conditions including high blood pressure, insulin resistance, inflammation, depression, and lower academic achievement (Lu, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Being overweight has also been linked to impaired brain functioning, which includes deficits in executive functioning, working memory, mental flexibility, and decision making (Liang, Matheson, Kaye, & Boutelle, 2014, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Children who ate more saturated fats performed worse on relational memory tasks, while eating a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids promoted relational memory skills (Davidson, 2014, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Using animal studies, Davidson et al. (2013, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) found that large amounts of processed sugars and saturated fat weakened the blood-brain barrier, especially in the hippocampus. This can make the brain more vulnerable to harmful substances that can impair its functioning. Another important executive functioning skill is controlling impulses and delaying gratification. Children who are overweight show less inhibitory control than normal-weight children, which may make it more difficult for them to avoid unhealthy foods (Lu, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Overall, being overweight as a child increases the risk for cognitive decline as one ages.
According to the Childhood Obesity Foundation (2019), it estimated that over 150 million children in the world are obese and this number is rising. In Canada specifically, the incidence of childhood obesity has nearly tripled in the last 30 years (Childhood Obesity Foundation, 2019), and one in four Canadian children are overweight or obese (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016). Unfortunately, most adolescents do not outgrow this problem and in fact, many continue to gain excess weight. If current trends continue, by 2040 up to 70% of adults aged 40 years will be either overweight or obese worldwide (Childhood Obesity Foundation, 2019).
Obesity in childhood is associated with a wide range of serious health complications such as fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes. Obese children run the risk of suffering orthopedic problems such as knee injuries, and they have an increased risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, 13 different cancers, liver disease, hypertension and stroke in adulthood (Childhood Obesity Foundation, 2019). In addition, it is hard for a child who is obese to become a non-obese adult. Thus, this is a public health crisis that we need to tackle.
According to the Government of Canada (2019), the following are things that caregivers can do to support children at remaining in a healthy weight:
Eat healthy:
- Following the food guide,
- Set a good example by being a role model for healthy eating. Children are more likely to try new foods if their caregivers eat them too.
- Eat meals together as often as possible and make the food the focus. Turn off the TV and put away electronic devices during mealtime. Children often eat better without these distractions.
- Involve children in the planning and preparing of meals and snacks.
Be physically active:
- According to the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), children and teenagers should participate in at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity involving a variety of aerobic activities. Vigorous physical activities, and muscle and bone strengthening activities should each be incorporated at least 3 days per week; Several hours of a variety of structured and unstructured light physical activities should also be incorporated into each child’s day (CSEP, 2021).
- Set a good example by being a role model for participating in healthy physical activity. Add physical activity to your daily routine and encourage children to join you.
- Limit the amount of time children spend on sedentary activities like watching television, playing video games, and surfing the web.
- Be aware of the opportunities your community offers to help your family stay healthy. Are there bike paths nearby? What community programs are available throughout the year?
Interestingly, behavioural interventions, including training children to overcome impulsive behaviour, are being researched to help overweight children (Lu, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Practicing inhibition has been shown to strengthen the ability to resist unhealthy foods. Caregivers can help their overweight/obese children the best when they are warm and supportive without using shame or guilt, helping them make correct food choices and praising their efforts (Liang, et al., 2014, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Increasing a child’s activity level is most helpful in combatting obesity and caregivers should be cautioned against emphasizing that diet alone will fix the problem. Dieting is not really the answer. When you diet, your basal metabolic rate tends to decrease thereby making the body burn even fewer calories in order to maintain the weight and often when one focuses on diet, it can lead to the development of an obsession about dieting. Obsessing about dieting often leads to the development of an eating disorder. Eating disorders are common in Canadian society, with up to 5% of young women having experienced an eating disorder before reaching adulthood. While anorexia nervosa typically has its onset in mid-adolescence, it can also occur in younger children (Findlay, Pinzon, Taddeo & Katzman, 2010, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
A growing concern regarding obesity is the lack of recognition from parents/caregivers that children are overweight or obese. Katz (2015) referred to this as “oblivobesity”. Black et al. (2015, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) found that parents in the United Kingdom (UK) only recognized their children as obese when they were above the 99.7th percentile while the official cut-off for obesity is at the 85th percentile. Oude Luttikhuis, Stolk, and Sauer (2010, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) surveyed 439 parents and found that 75% of parents of overweight children said the child had a normal weight and 50% of parents of obese children said the child had a normal weight. For these parents, overweight was considered normal and obesity was considered normal or a little heavy. Doolen, Alpert, and Miller (2009, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) reported on several studies from the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, and the United States, and in all locations, parents were more likely to misperceive their children’s weight. Black, Park, and Gregson (2015, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) concluded that as the average weight of children rises, what parents consider normal also rises. If parents cannot identify if their children are overweight, they will not be able to intervene and assist their children with proper weight management.
Indigenous Perspectives
Indigenous people’s diets have been substantially changed by the coming of settlers. They brought the flour, salt, sugar, milk and lard. Those “5 white gifts” saved their lives but impacted their livelihood and their health. When the government put Indigenous people on reservations, they had to sign themselves out to go hunting, fishing and trapping. On some reservations, they were not allowed to go harvest. Some people starved and others learned to cook with them. The recipe for bannock or scone came from the Scottish people. These “staples” gave the Indigenous people diabetes and brought other sicknesses. The following link explains The White Gifts. Many remote communities don’t have fresh produce, food is very expensive, the produce that does make its way there is brown or discoloured; therefore, it is simpler and cheaper to eat foods that are not good for them. i.e. pasta, fried bread or bannock, processed foods, pop, chips, chocolate bars, etc). Obesity and diabetes are very prominent in these communities. As a result, diabetes initiatives have been put in place to try to curve the onset of diabetes, heart attacks and, strokes
Cognitive development in middle childhood
During middle and late childhood, children continue to explore their world with purpose. Cognitive skills continue to develop with an increasing ability to make inquiries, problem solve, classify information and data and make representations that support children to make sense of, and describe, the world and their experiences. In this period of development, they begin to ‘think about thinking‘ referred to as metacognition and evaluate what they already know and what they still have to learn.
Thought processes that become more logical and organized when dealing with concrete and increasingly more abstract information. Children at this age understand concepts such as past, present, and future, giving them the ability to plan and work toward goals. Additionally, they can process complex ideas such as addition and subtraction and cause-and-effect relationship.
For most children, school becomes a context for development and where their abilities are assessed and reported on. Throughout childhood and beyond there are many factors which influence an individual’s overall cognitive development. These include their socioeconomic status, parenting, their lived experiences and individual differences in cognitive process, and these differences predict both their readiness for school, academic performance, and testing in school (Prebler, Krajewski, & Hasselhorn, 2013, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
HealthLink BC. (n.d.) describes cognitive development during middle childhood as a time where thinking becoming more complex. Children’s thinking has evolved to a “more mature and logical way of thinking” where they can “consider several parts to a problem or situation” (HealthLink BC, n.d).
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Cognitive Operational Thought
As children continue into elementary school, they develop the ability to represent ideas and events with more logic and flexibility. Piaget called this period the concrete operational stage because children mentally “operate” on concrete objects and events.
The concrete operational stage is defined as the third in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. This stage takes place around 7 years old to 11 years of age and is characterized by the development of organized and rational thinking. Piaget (1954a, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) considered the concrete stage a major turning point in the child’s cognitive development, because it marks the beginning of logical or operational thought. The child is now mature enough to use logical thought or operations (i.e. rules) but can only apply logic to physical objects (hence concrete operational). Children gain the abilities of conservation (number, area, volume, orientation) and reversibility (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Children studying (Image is licensed under CC0)
These skills allow children to solve problems more systematically than before, and therefore to be successful with many academic tasks. In the concrete operational stage, for example, a child may unconsciously follow the rule: “If nothing is added or taken away, then the amount of something stays the same.”
Let’s look at the following cognitive skills that children typically master during Piaget’s concrete operational stage 6:
The cognitive skills developed during the concrete operational stage. (Image by Ian Joslin is licensed under CC-BY 4.0)
Seriation: Arranging items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight, in a methodical way is now demonstrated by the concrete operational child. For example, they can methodically arrange a series of different-sized sticks in order by length, while younger children approach a similar task in a haphazard way (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Putting these rectangles from smallest to largest is seriation. (Image by MehreenH is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0)
Classification: As children gain more experiences and their vocabularies expand, they build schema and can recognize and perhaps describe attributes and organize objects in many different ways. They also understand classification hierarchies and can arrange objects into a variety of classes and subclasses.
This child might use classification if they sort these toys by colour. (Image is licensed under CC0)
Understanding that ice cubes melt is an example of reversibility. (Image by John Voo is licensed under CC-BY 2.0)
Reversibility: The child learns that some things that have been changed can be returned to their original state. Water can be frozen and then thawed to become liquid again. But eggs cannot be unscrambled. Arithmetic operations are reversible as well: 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 – 3 = 2. School curricula around the world reflects children’s developing cognitive skills and educators are encouraged to provide opportunities for children to explore and demonstrate these new skills and increased awareness.
Conservation: In the chapter describing Piaget’s pre-operational stage of cognitive development, you learned that a child in this stage would believe that if you were to fill a tall beaker with 8 ounces of water they would think that it was “more” than a short, wide bowl filled with 8 ounces of water. Children in the Concrete operational stage can understand the concept of conservation, which means that changing one attribute (in this example, height or water level) can be compensated for by changes in another attribute (width). Consequently, there is the same amount (conserved) of water in each container, although one is taller and narrower and the other is shorter and wider. Children in the pre operational stage may look at the attribute of height or depth and believe that the taller container has more water (depth) .
Beakers displaying the idea of conservation. (Image by Ydolem2689 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Decentration: Children in the concrete operational stage of development children no longer focus on only one dimension or attribute of any object (such as the height of the glass) and instead consider the changes in other dimensions and attributes also (such as the width of the glass). This allows for conservation to occur.
Children looking at these glasses demonstrate decentration when looking at more than one attribute i.e. tall, short, and wide narrow. (Image by Waterlily16 is licensed under CC by-SA 3.0)
Identity: One feature of concrete operational thought is the understanding that objects have qualities or attributes that do not change even if the object is altered in some way. For instance, mass of an object does not change by rearranging it. A piece of chalk is still chalk even when the piece is broken in two (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
A broken egg is still an egg (Image bu John Liu is licensed under CC-BY 2.0)
A deflated balloon is still a balloon. (Image is licensed under CC0)
Broken chalk is still chalk. (Image from Pexels)
Transitivity: This refers to the ability to understand how objects are related to one another is referred to as transitivity or transitive inference. This means that if one understands that a dog is a mammal and that a boxer is a dog, then a boxer must be a mammal.
Transitivity allows children to understand that the boxer puppy is a dog and a mammal. (Image by Martin Vorel is in the public domain)
Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner. (Image by Interaction-Design.org is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
Another champion of the idea of specific types of intelligences rather than one overall intelligence is the psychologist Howard Gardner (1983, 1999, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). In the book Frames of Mind published in 1983, Gardner argued that it would be evolutionarily functional for different people to have different talents and skills, and proposed that there are nine intelligences that can be differentiated from each other.
Gardner contends that these are also forms of intelligence. A high IQ does not always ensure success in life or necessarily indicate that a person has common sense, good interpersonal skills, or other abilities important for success. Gardner investigated intelligences by focusing on children who were talented in one or more areas. In Gardner’s original work, he identified 7 intelligences based on other criteria including a set developmental history and psychometric findings . Gardner’s research demonstrated that in most individuals, two or the seven types of intelligence are dominant. (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
In 1995, Gardner added an eighth intelligence: naturalistic intelligence. In 2020, he added a ninth intelligence: existential intelligence. Descriptions of the nine intelligences are in the chart below.
Many inventories have been developed to describe an individual’s Multiple Intelligences profile. These inventories can be used to determine which two types of intelligence are dominant in an individual, however, developing all nine intelligences is encouraged. There are many Multiple Intelligence inventories that can be accessed for free online. If you have never completed one, take a few moments to do so. The results may surprise you!
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
| Intelligence | Description |
| Linguistic | The ability to speak and write well |
| Logical-mathematical | The ability to use logic and mathematical skills to solve problems |
| Spatial | The ability to think and reason about objects in three dimensions |
| Musical | The ability to perform and enjoy music |
| Kinesthetic (body) | The ability to move the body in sports, dance, or other physical activities |
| Interpersonal | The ability to understand and interact effectively with others |
| Intrapersonal | The ability to have insight into the self |
| Naturalistic | The ability to recognize, identify, and understand animals, plants, and other living things |
| Existential | The ability to understand and have concern from life’s larger questions, the meaning of life, and other spiritual matters |
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; Table adapted from Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligence
Let’s consider how Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences helps early childhood educators support children’s holistic development and work with families as partners. It is an expectation that educators observe children’s play and interests to co plan learning opportunities and environments that align with the vision described in How Does Learning Happen? Being aware of Gardner’s nine types of intelligence facilitates educators to offer a broad range of opportunities for children. Opportunities which embrace the nine types of intelligence support all children’s development and well-being. Some children will be engaged because the opportunity recognizes one of their dominant intelligences while others may be curious to explore an opportunity that supports an intelligence that may not be dominant for them. This practice also reflects Loris Malaguzzi’s concept “One Hundred Languages of Children”. Loris Mallaguzzi (1920-1994) was the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach. They believed that there are multiple ways that children can express their ideas, thoughts and feelings.
The concept of multiple intelligences has been influential in the field of formal education and where teachers have used Gardner’s theory to differentiate instruction for individual students. Multiple intelligence theory (Gardner, 1983, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) can be considered in three main areas: the manner in which a lesson is presented, the tasks assigned to students and the way students can demonstrate their understanding (assessment). For instance, to teach math problems to students who have particularly good a high degree of kinesthetic intelligence, a teacher might encourage the students to move their bodies or hands according to the numbers (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences has been critiqued by some who argue that these “intelligences” sometimes seem more like “abilities” or “talents” rather than real intelligence, however, an awareness of this theory can support teaching, learning and holistic development.
Information Processing, Memory and problem solving
During middle and late childhood children make strides in several areas of cognitive function including the capacity of working memory, their ability to pay attention, and their use of memory strategies. Both changes in the brain and experience foster these abilities. In this section, we will look at how children process information, think and learn, allowing them to increase their ability to learn and remember due to an improvement in the ways they attend to, store information, and problem solve (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Working memory expands during middle and late childhood. (Image by Anchor is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA)
Working Memory: Research has suggested that both an increase in processing speed and the ability to inhibit irrelevant information from entering memory are contributing to the greater efficiency of working memory during this age (de Ribaupierre, 2002, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Changes in myelination and synaptic pruning in the cortex are likely behind the increase in processing speed and ability to filter out irrelevant stimuli (Kail, McBride-Chang, Ferrer, Cho, & Shu, 2013, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
Attention: As noted above, the ability to inhibit irrelevant information improves during this stage of development with a sharp improvement in selective attention from age six into adolescence (Vakil, Blachstein, Sheinman, & Greenstein, 2009, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Children also improve in their ability to shift their attention between tasks or different features of a task (Carlson, Zelazo, & Faja, 2013, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). A younger child who is asked to sort objects into piles based on the type of object, car versus animal, or color of the object, red versus blue, would likely have no trouble doing so. But if you ask them to switch from sorting based on type to now having them sort based on color, they would struggle because this requires them to suppress the prior sorting rule. An older child has less difficulty making the switch, meaning there is greater flexibility in their attentional skills. These changes in attention and working memory contribute to children having more strategic approaches to challenging tasks.
Memory Strategies: Bjorklund (2005, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) describes a developmental progression in the acquisition and use of memory strategies as children progress through elementary school. Examples of memory strategies include rehearsing information you wish to recall, visualizing and organizing information, creating rhymes, such as “i” before “e” except after “c”, or inventing acronyms, or pneumonic device such as “roygbiv” to remember the colors of the rainbow. In a longitudinal study Schneider, Kron-Sperl, and Hünnerkopf (2009, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) reported a steady increase in the use of memory strategies from ages six to ten. Moreover, by age ten many children were using two or more memory strategies to help them recall information. Schneider and colleagues found that there were considerable individual differences at each age in the use of strategies and that children who utilized more strategies had better memory performance than their same-aged peers.
cognition processes
As children learn more about the world, their knowledge base grows. (Image is licensed under CC0)
As children enter school and learn more about the world, their knowledge base expands, and becomes more refined as they develop more categories for concepts (Berger, 2014, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). They learn more efficient strategies for storing and retrieving information.
Metacognition: As mentioned earlier, this refers to the knowledge we have about our own thinking and our ability to use this awareness to regulate our own cognitive processes (Bruning, Schraw, Norby, & Ronning, 2004, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Children in this developmental stage can’ think about thinking’ and are better able to evaluate their performance of a task and the level of difficulty of the task. As they become more aware of their abilities, they can set goals and adapt studying strategies to support their success.
Critical thinking
According to the Ontario Mathematics Curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020) critical thinking can be described as: “the process of thinking about ideas or situations in order to understand them fully, identify their implications, make a judgement, and/or guide decision making.”
Critical thinking includes a number of skills such as questioning, predicting, analyzing, synthesizing, examining opinions, identifying values and issues, detecting bias, and distinguishing between alternatives (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020). It is important to teach children these thinking skills so they can become individuals who can engage in detailed examination of beliefs, courses of action, and evidence, and evaluate information to make informed decisions that can have a positive impact on the world. Critical thinking involves better understanding a problem through gathering, evaluating, and selecting information, and also by considering many possible solutions. Ennis (1987, as cited in Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020) identified several skills useful in critical thinking. Metacognition is essential to critical thinking because it allows us to reflect on the information as we make decisions and move beyond superficial conclusions to a deeper understanding of the issues being examined (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020).
Indigenous Perspectives
Indigenous children are not seen as having disabilities, they are considered as having different gifts that others may not have. They are regarded as being brought to the mother and father, to the community, and other family members to show them something. It is seen in a wholistic way. Take for instance in the case of someone who has impaired vision, their other senses are higher than someone who does not have that exceptionality.
language development in middle childhood
Human language is the most complex behavior on the planet and, at least as far as we know, in the universe. Language involves both the ability to comprehend (receptive) spoken and written (expressive) words and to create communication in real time when we speak or write. Most languages are oral, generated through speaking. Speaking involves a variety of complex cognitive, social, and biological processes including operation of the vocal cords, and the coordination of breath with movements of the throat and mouth, and tongue.
Although language is often used for the transmission of information (“turn right at the next light and then go straight,” “Place tab A into slot B”), this is only its most mundane function. Language also allows us to access existing knowledge, to draw conclusions, to set and accomplish goals, and to understand and communicate complex social relationships. Language is fundamental to our ability to think, and without it we would be nowhere near as intelligent as we are.
Language can be conceptualized in terms of sounds, meaning, and the environmental factors that help us understand it. Phonemes are the elementary sounds of our language, morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language, syntax is the set of grammatical rules that control how words are put together, and contextual information is the elements of communication that are not part of the content of language but that help us understand its meaning. Understanding how language works means reaching across many branches of psychology—everything from basic neurological functioning to high-level cognitive processing. Language shapes our social interactions and brings order to our lives. Complex language is one of the defining factors that make us human.
introduction to linguistics
Human language is such a complex topic that there is an entire field, linguistics, devoted to its study. Linguistics views language in an objective way, using the scientific method and rigorous research to form theories about how humans acquire, use, and sometimes abuse language. There are a few major branches of linguistics, which it is useful to understand in order to learn about language from a psychological perspective.
This diagram outlines the various subfields of linguistics, the study of language. These include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
Major branches of linguistics (Image is in the public domain)
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a meaningful difference in a language. The word “bit” has three phonemes, /b/, /i/, and /t/ (in transcription, phonemes are placed between slashes), and the word “pit” also has three: /p/, /i/, and /t/. In spoken languages, phonemes are produced by the positions and movements of the vocal tract, including our lips, teeth, tongue, vocal cords, and throat, whereas in sign languages phonemes are defined by the shapes and movement of the hands. English contains about 45 phonemes.
Graphemes are written symbols that represent sounds (phonemes). There are approximately 250 graphemes in the English language. Graphemes can be a single letter or a combination of letters. For example, the word “bead” has 3 phonemes b/ea/d. “Ea” is a grapheme; two letters that represent the sound of a long “e” when writing the word “bead”.
Whereas phonemes are the smallest units of sound in language, phonetics is the study of individual speech sounds; phonology is the study of phonemes, which are the speech sounds of an individual language. These two heavily overlapping subfields cover all the sounds that humans can make, as well as which sounds make up different languages.
A morpheme is a string of one or more phonemes that makes up the smallest units of meaning in a language. Some morphemes, such as one-letter words like “I” and “a,” are also phonemes, but most morphemes are made up of combinations of phonemes. Some morphemes are prefixes and suffixes used to modify other words. For example, the syllable “re-” as in “rewrite” or “repay” means “to do again,” and the suffix “-est” as in “happiest” or “coolest” means “to the maximum.”
Morphology is the study of words and other meaningful units of language like suffixes and prefixes. A morphologist would be interested in the relationship between words like “dog” and “dogs” or “walk” and “walking,” and how people figure out the differences between those words.
Syntax is the set of rules of a language by which we construct sentences. Each language has a different syntax. The syntax of the English language requires that each sentence have a noun and a verb, each of which may be modified by adjectives and adverbs. Some syntaxes make use of the order in which words appear, while others do not.
Syntax is the study of sentences and phrases, or how people put words into the right order so that they can communicate meaningfully. All languages have underlying rules of syntax, which, along with morphological rules, make up every language’s grammar. An example of syntax coming into play in language is “Eugene walked the dog” versus “The dog walked Eugene.” The order of words is not arbitrary—in order for the sentence to convey the intended meaning, the words must be in a certain order.
Semantics, generally, is about the meaning of sentences. Someone who studies semantics is interested in words and what real-world object or concept those words denote, or point to.
Pragmatics is an even broader field that studies how the context of a sentence contributes to meaning. For example, someone shouting “Fire!” has a very different meaning if they are in charge of a seven-gun salute than it does if they are sitting in a crowded movie theater. Every language is different. In English, an adjective comes before a noun (“red house”), whereas in Spanish, the adjective comes after (“casa [house] roja [red].”) In German, you can put noun after noun together to form giant compound words; in Chinese, the pitch of your voice determines the meaning of your words. in American Sign Language, you can convey full, grammatical sentences with tense and aspect by moving your hands and face. But all languages have structural underpinnings that make them logical for the people who speak and understand them (OER Services, n.d.).
As speakers of Chinese, these children would understand the importance of pitch. (Image by joan vila is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Learning to Read
A huge milestone in middle childhood is learning to read and write. While the foundations of this were laid in infancy and early childhood, formal instruction on this process usually happens during the school-age years. There isn’t always complete agreement on how children are best taught to read. The following approaches to teaching reading are separated by their methodology, but today, models of reading strive for a balance between the two types of reading methods because they are both recognized as essential for learning to read.
- A phonics-based approach teaches reading by making sure children can understand letter-sound correspondences (how letters sound), automatically recognize familiar words, and decode unfamiliar words. This ability to break the code of reading allows children to read words they have never heard spoken before.
- The whole-language approach attempts to teach reading as naturally as possible. As the sounds of words don’t have meaning, the focus is on reading words and sentences in context (such as real books), rather than learning the sounds and phonemes that makeup words.
Learning Difficulties
When children don’t seem to be developing or learning in the typical pattern one might be assessed for a disorder or disability. What is a learning disorder or disability? In the next section we’ll learn about the spectrum of disorders and how they may impact many areas of the child’s life.
A learning disorder is a classification of disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner within one of several domains. Types of learning disorders include difficulties in reading (dyslexia), mathematics (dyscalculia), and writing (dysgraphia). These disorders are diagnosed with certain criteria.
Children with learning challenges may learn differently in relationship to a a specific area, a specific task or a type of activity related to education.
Children with learning challenges are usually identified in school because this is when their academic abilities are being tested, compared, and measured. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -DSM-5, a qualified person will make a diagnosis, identified causes, and will make a treatment plan for disorders and disabilities. The diagnosis of specific learning disorder was added to the DSM-5 in 2013.
The DSM does not require that a single domain of difficulty (such as reading, mathematics, or written expression) be identified—instead, it is a single diagnosis that describes a collection of potential difficulties with general academic skills, simply including detailed specifications for the areas of reading, mathematics, and writing. Academic performance must be below average in at least one of these fields, and the symptoms may also interfere with daily life or work. In addition, the learning difficulties cannot be attributed to other sensory, motor, developmental, or neurological disorders (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019). The following is an example of the DSM-5 – learning disorders.
Learning Disorders:
- Dyslexia – Reading
- Dyscalculia – Mathematics
- Dyspraxia – Motor Coordination
- Dysgraphia – Writing
- Auditory Processing Disorder – Hearing
- Visual Processing Disorder – Visual
Speech and Language Disorders:
- Aphasia – Loss of expressive and or receptive language
- Articulation Disorder – Distortions or substitutions in the production of speech sounds
- Fluency Disorders – Difficulty speaking in a flowing way
- Voice Disorders – differences in voice quality, pitch or loudness
Learning Disorders or Disabilities :
Dyslexia, sometimes called “reading disorder,” is the most common learning disability; of all students with specific learning disabilities, 70%–80% have deficits in reading. The term “developmental dyslexia” is often used as a catchall term, but researchers assert that dyslexia is just one of several types of reading disabilities. A reading disability can affect any part of the reading process, including word recognition, word decoding, reading speed, prosody (oral reading with expression), and reading comprehension.
Dyscalculia is a form of math-related disability that involves difficulties with learning math-related concepts (such as quantity, place value, and time), memorizing math-related facts, organizing numbers, and understanding how problems are organized on the page. Dyscalculics are often referred to as having poor “number sense.”
Children who have motor skills substantially below what is expected for their age are diagnosed with dyspraxia – or developmental coordination disorder (DCD) as it is more formally known. They are not lazy, clumsy or unintelligent – in fact, their intellectual ability is in line with the general population – but they do struggle with everyday tasks that require coordination.
Children with learning challenges are usually identified in school because this is when their academic abilities are being tested, compared, and measured. (Image by pan xiaozhen on Unsplash)
The term dysgraphia is often used as an overarching term for all disorders of written expression. Individuals with dysgraphia typically show multiple writing-related deficiencies, such as grammatical and punctuation errors within sentences, poor paragraph organization, multiple spelling errors, and excessively poor penmanship.
speech and language disorders
A loss of the ability to produce or understand language is referred to as aphasia. Without the brain, there would be no language. The human brain has a few areas that are specific to language processing and production. When these areas are damaged or injured, capabilities for speaking or understanding can be lost, a disorder known as aphasia. These areas must function together in order for a person to develop, use, and understand language.
An articulation disorder refers to the inability to correctly produce speech sounds (phonemes) because of imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed, or flow of movement of the lips, tongue, or throat (NIDCD, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Sounds can be substituted, left off, added or changed. These errors may make it hard for people to understand the speaker. They can range from problems with specific sounds, such as lisping to severe impairment in the phonological system. Most children have problems pronouncing words early on while their speech is developing. However, by age three, at least half of what a child says should be understood by a stranger. By age five, a child’s speech should be mostly intelligible. Parents should seek help if by age six the child is still having trouble producing certain sounds. It should be noted that accents are not articulation disorders (Medline Plus, 2016a, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
Fluency disorders affect the rate of speech. Speech may be labored and slow, or too fast for listeners to follow. The most common fluency disorder is stuttering.
Stuttering is a speech disorder in which sounds, syllables, or words are repeated or last longer than normal. These problems cause a break in the flow of speech, which is called dysfluency (Medline Plus, 2016b, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). About 5% of young children, aged two-five, will develop some stuttering that may last from several weeks to several years (Medline Plus, 2016c, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Approximately 75% of children recover from stuttering. For the remaining 25%, stuttering can persist as a lifelong communication disorder (National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, NIDCD, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). This is called developmental stuttering and is the most common form of stuttering.
Brain injury, and in very rare instances, emotional trauma may be other triggers for developing problems with stuttering. In most cases of developmental stuttering, other family members share the same communication disorder. Researchers have recently identified variants in four genes that are more commonly found in those who stutter (NIDCD, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
Voice Disorders
Disorders of the voice involve problems with pitch, loudness, and quality of the voice (American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, 2016, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). It only becomes a disorder when problems with the voice make the child unintelligible. In children, voice disorders are significantly more prevalent in males than in females. Between 1.4% and 6% of children experience problems with the quality of their voice. Causes can be due to structural abnormalities in the vocal cords and/or larynx, functional factors, such as vocal fatigue from overuse, and in rarer cases psychological factors, such as chronic stress and anxiety (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Digital technology and screens
In recent years digital technology has profoundly changed the way we live and work. At work and in everyday life it is almost impossible to avoid engaging with screens. Almost everything we do involves some form of digital technology and contact with a screen from shopping and banking, to communicating with others as examples.
In this text we are concerned with children’s development. How does digital technology including the use of screens influence children’s development of language and literacy? This includes children’s exposure to screens as well how screen use by others may impact them. In the past screens generally referred to television, but now the term is used to include computers, tablets and Smart phones. Media developers have been quick to respond to this demographic with programming and developing apps for the youngest viewers and users. There are hundreds of videos posted on You Tube and Tik Tok for example, created with young children in mind.
We now know that children are also affected by the screen use of others referred to as second hand screen time (The Conversation, 2020). Smart Phones have made it possible to connect with others almost anywhere and to access information at our fingertips. Digital technology has blurred boundaries between work and home life. For these reasons and more, parents and caregivers can be easily distracted by their phones. Distracted caregiving may negatively impact the quality of the relationship between a child and a primary caregiver. A child may come to believe that the content on the caregiver’s phone is more important than they are. This inattention and lack of direct attention can have an adverse effect on communication and language development (The Conversation, 2020).
So how does this all affect children’s brains and development? Since digital technology and the recent access to screens is fairly recent, researchers are still trying to determine the extent to which development is influenced and make recommendations (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2017). In 2017 the Canadian Paediatric Society surveyed its members and released a position statement on screen time for children. The position statement recommends that physicians counsel families on 4Ms: Minimizing screen time, mitigating the potential harmful effects of screen time, being mindful of screen time (children’ and adults) and to model positive habits (Canadian Paediatric Society, n.d).
Klimova and Pikhart (2020), concluded that the use of Facebook has a positive effect on developing writing skills in English as a foreign language, especially in shaping and organizing ideas, enhancing motivation, developing and supporting collaboration among peers, improving vocabulary, and reducing students´ shyness. Social media has both positive and negative impacts on how people write and speak English. The demands for faster and convenient communication have increased the propensity to make spelling mistakes, use abbreviations, and improper use of informal language. New vocabulary coined in social media has also trickled down to daily verbal conversations. Some words that were slang have even been integrated into mainstream English making it simpler to understand (Flyextremeworld, 2022).
Dore, Logan, Lin, Purtel, & Justice (2020), determined that media use has a negative effect on literacy skills when it is used in large amounts on a daily basis and thus displaces important educational activities like shared book reading and other activities with a print focus. On the other hand, more moderate amounts of media use may be less likely to displace such activities or may not displace them to the extent that it disrupts literacy development.
Emotional and Social development in Middle childhood
As children get older their experiences allow them to develop a more realistic understanding of themselves, including both their strengths and weaknesses. This developing self-concept is influenced by messages they receive from their peers, their family, other adults in their lives such as teachers and coaches, and the media. Between the ages of 5 and 8, children are solidifying their self-concept, identity and self-esteem. They start to define themselves by comparing themselves to others and are becoming more aware of stereotypes. They are better able to recognize and understand complex emotions such as gratitude, jealousy and anxiety. They now have a variety of strategies for managing their emotions, such as self-talk, empathy and perspective-taking. They often take great pride in their work and their new-found abilities to persevere and solve problems (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014a).
Between the ages of 9 and 12, improving metacognitive skills (the awareness of their own thought processes) enable children to understand their emotional selves. They are also better at anticipating future outcomes which allows them to be better prepared for managing emotional situations. However, tweens can still struggle to manage their emotions if they feel overwhelmed by strong emotions such as frustration or by the demands of the situation (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014a).
Moral development
Kohlberg (1963, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) built on the work of Piaget and was interested in finding out how our moral reasoning changes as we get older. He wanted to find out how people decide what is right and what is wrong. Just as Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development follows specific patterns, Kohlberg (1984, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) argued that we learn our moral values through active thinking and reasoning, and that moral development follows a series of stages. Kohlberg’s six stages are generally organized into three levels of moral reasoning. To study moral development, Kohlberg looked at how children (and adults) respond to moral dilemmas.
One of Kohlberg’s best-known moral dilemmas is the Heinz dilemma: In Europe, a person was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save them. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost them to make. The druggist paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick person’s spouse, Heinz, went to everyone they knew to borrow the money but they could only get together about $1,000, about half of what the drug cost. They told the druggist that their spouse was dying and asked them to sell it cheaper or let them pay later. But the druggist said: “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” Heinz got desperate and broke into the druggist store to steal the drug for their sick spouse. Should the person have done that? (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
Level One – Preconventional Morality
In stage one, moral reasoning is based on concepts of punishment. The child believes that if the consequence for an action is punishment, then the action was wrong. In the second stage, the child bases their thinking on self-interest and reward (“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”). The youngest subjects seemed to answer based on what would happen to the spouse as a result of the act. For example, they might say the spouse should not break into the pharmacy because the pharmacist might find them and beat them. Or they might say that the spouse should break in and steal the drug and the sick spouse will give them a big kiss. Right or wrong, both decisions were based on what would physically happen as a result of the act. This is a self-centered approach to moral decision-making. They called this most superficial understanding of right and wrong preconventional morality. Preconventional morality focuses on self-interest. Punishment is avoided and rewards are sought. Adults can also fall into these stages, particularly when they are under pressure.
Level Two – Conventional Morality
Those tested who based their answers on what other people would think of the spouse as a result of the act were placed in Level Two. For instance, they might say the spouse should break into the store, then everyone would think they were being a good partner, or the spouse should not because it is against the law. In either case, right and wrong is determined by what other people think. In stage three, the person wants to please others. At stage four, the person acknowledges the importance of social norms or laws and wants to be a good member of the group or society. A good decision is one that gains the approval of others or one that complies with the law. This is called conventional morality; people care about the effect of their actions on others. Some older children, adolescents, and adults use this reasoning.
Level Three, post-conventional morality, is not included because it focuses on adolescence and adulthood. However, it is in the table below if you’d like an overview of Level Three – Stages 5 and 6.
Preconventional Morality (young children)
| Stage | Description |
| Stage 1 | Focus is on self-interest and punishment is avoided. The person shouldn’t steal the drug, as they may get caught and go to jail. |
| Stage 2 | Rewards are sought. A person at this level will argue that the person should steal the drug because they do not want to lose their partner who takes care of them. |
Conventional Morality (older children, adolescents, most adults)
| Stage | Description |
| Stage 3 | Focus is on how situational outcomes impact others and wanting to please and be accepted. The person should steal the drug because that is what good partners do. |
| Stage 4 | People make decisions based on laws or formalized rules. The person should obey the law because stealing is a crime. |
Post Conventional Morality (rare in adolescents, a few adults)
| Stage | Description |
| Stage 5 | Individuals employ abstract reasoning to justify behaviours. The person should steal the drug because laws can be unjust and you have to consider the whole situation. |
| Stage 6 | Moral behaviour is based on self-chosen ethical principles. The person should steal the drug because life is more important than property. |
Although research has supported Kohlberg’s idea that moral reasoning changes from an early emphasis on punishment and social rules and regulations to an emphasis on more general ethical principles, as with Piaget’s approach, Kohlberg’s stage model is probably too simple. For one, people may use higher levels of reasoning for some types of problems but revert to lower levels in situations where doing so is more consistent with their goals or beliefs (Rest, 1979, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Second, it has been argued that the stage model is particularly appropriate for Western, rather than non-Western, samples in which allegiance to social norms, such as respect for authority, may be particularly important (Haidt, 2001). In addition, there is frequently little correlation between how we score on the moral stages and how we behave in real life. Finally, critics of Kohlberg’s theory believe that it is gender-biased. Typical male approaches to making a moral decision are given a higher rating (Level 4) than typical female approaches (Level 3). Males tend to make moral decisions based on principles of law and order. Females tend to make moral decisions based on interpersonal interactions. Critics say that one approach is not better or worse than the other, just different.
Indigenous Perspectives
In many Indigenous nations children learn the Seven Grandfather Teachings which are values and they are taught morals through Storytelling. In the story, one or more of the animals learns a valuable lesson. The child sees himself in the animal characters of the story.
self understanding
Children in middle childhood have a more realistic sense of self than do those in early childhood. That exaggerated sense of self as “biggest” or “smartest” or “tallest” gives way to an understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be attributed to greater experience in comparing one’s own performance with that of others and to greater cognitive flexibility. A child’s self-concept can be influenced by peers and family and the messages they send about a child’s worth. Contemporary children also receive messages from the media about how they should look and act. Movies, music videos, the internet, and advertisers can all create cultural images of what is desirable or undesirable and this too can influence a child’s self-concept.
Interactions with the media influence children’s perception of themselves. (Image by Lucélia Ribeiro is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
Young children begin developing social understanding very early in life and are also able to include other peoples’ appraisals of them into their self-concept, including parents, teachers, peers, culture, and media. Internalizing others’ appraisals and creating social comparison affect children’s self-esteem, which is defined as an evaluation of one’s identity. Children can have individual assessments of how well they perform a variety of activities and also develop an overall, global self-assessment. If there is a discrepancy between how children view themselves and what they consider to be their ideal selves, their self-esteem can be negatively affected.
Self-concept refers to beliefs about general personal identity (Seiffert, 2011, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). These beliefs include personal attributes, such as one’s age, physical characteristics, behaviours, and competencies. Children in middle and late childhood have a more realistic sense of self than do those in early childhood, and they better understand their strengths and weaknesses. This can be attributed to greater experience in comparing their own performance with that of others, and to greater cognitive flexibility.
Another important development in self-understanding is self-efficacy, which is the belief that you are capable of carrying out a specific task or of reaching a specific goal (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Large discrepancies between self-efficacy and ability can create motivational problems for the individual (Seifert, 2011, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). If a student believes that they can solve mathematical problems, then the student is more likely to attempt the mathematics homework that the teacher assigns.
Unfortunately, the converse is also true. If a student believes that they are incapable of math, then the student is less likely to attempt the math homework regardless of the student’s actual ability in math. Since self-efficacy is self-constructed, it is possible for students to miscalculate or misperceive their true skill, and these misperceptions can have complex effects on students’ motivations. It is possible to have either too much or too little self-efficacy, and according to Bandura (1997, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) the optimal level seems to be either at, or slightly above, true ability.
FFamilies can support children’s social and emotional skills. (Image is in the public domain)
As we have seen, children’s experience of relationships at home and the peer group contributes to an expanding repertoire of social and emotional skills and also to broadened social understanding. In these relationships, children develop expectations for specific people, understanding of how to interact with adults and peers, and self-concept based on how others respond to them. These relationships are also significant forums for emotional development (Thompson, n.d.).
childhood mental health
Mental health problems can disrupt daily life at home, at school or in the community. Without help, mental health problems can lead to school failure, alcohol or other drug abuse, family discord, violence or even suicide. However, help is available. Talk to your health care provider if you have concerns about your child’s behaviour.
Mental health disorders are diagnosed by a qualified professional using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). This is a manual that is used as a standard across the profession for diagnosing and treating mental disorders.
When You Have a Concern About a Child. What’s in a Label?
Childhood mental health disorders:
Social and emotional disorders
- Phobias
- Anxiety
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – PTSD
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder- OCD
- Depression
Developmental disorders
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD)
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)
Phobias
When a child who has a phobia (an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something which is out of proportion to the risk it presents) is exposed to the phobic stimulus (the stimuli varies), it almost invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response, which may take the form of a situational bound or situational predisposed panic attack. Children can show effects and characteristics when it comes to specific phobias. The effects of anxiety show up by crying, throwing tantrums, experiencing freezing, or clinging to the parent that they have the most connection with. Related conditions include anxiety. Common childhood phobias include a fear of certain animals and insects, a fear of blood and a fear of needles.
Anxiety
Many children have fears and worries, and will feel sad and hopeless from time to time. Strong fears will appear at different times during development. For example, toddlers are often very distressed about being away from their parents, even if they are safe and cared for. Although fears and worries are typical in children, persistent or extreme forms of fear and sadness feelings could be due to anxiety or depression. Because the symptoms primarily involve thoughts and feelings, they are called internalizing disorders.
An anxious child (Photo by Zika Radosavljevic on Unsplash)
When children do not outgrow the fears and worries that are typical in young children, or when there are so many fears and worries that interfere with school, home, or play activities, the child may be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Examples of different types of anxiety disorders include:
- Being very afraid when away from parents (separation anxiety)
- Having extreme fear about a specific thing or situation, such as dogs, insects, or going to the doctor (phobias)
- Being very afraid of school and other places where there are people (social anxiety)
- Being very worried about the future and about bad things happening (general anxiety)
- Having repeated episodes of sudden, unexpected, intense fear that come with symptoms like heart pounding, having trouble breathing, or feeling dizzy, shaky, or sweaty (panic disorder)
Anxiety may present as fear or worry, but can also make children irritable and angry. Anxiety symptoms can also include trouble sleeping, as well as physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, or stomachaches. Some anxious children keep their worries to themselves and, thus, the symptoms can be missed. Related conditions include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Exposure to traumatic events such as actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation can have major developmental influences on children. While the majority of children will not develop PTSD after a trauma, best estimates from the literature are that around a third of them will, higher than adult estimates. Some reasons for this could include more limited knowledge about the world, differential coping mechanisms employed, and the fact that children’s reactions to trauma are often highly influenced by how their parents and caregivers react.
The impact of PTSD on children weeks after a trauma, show that up to 90% of children may experience heightened physiological arousal, diffuse anxiety, survivor guilt, and emotional liability. These are all normal reactions and should be understood as such (similar things are seen in adults). Those children still having these symptoms three or four months after a disaster, however, may be in need of further assessment, particularly if they show the following symptoms as well. For older children, warning signs of problematic adjustment include: repetitious play reenacting a part of the disaster; preoccupation with danger or expressed concerns about safety; sleep disturbances and irritability; anger outbursts or aggressiveness; excessive worry about family or friends; school avoidance, particularly involving somatic complaints; behaviours characteristic of younger children; and changes in personality, withdrawal, and loss of interest in activities.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Although a diagnosis of OCD requires only that a person either has obsessions or compulsions, not both, approximately 96% of people experience both. For almost all people with OCD, being exposed to a certain stimuli (internal or external) will then trigger an upsetting or anxiety-causing obsession, which can only be relieved by doing a compulsion. For example, a person touches a doorknob in a public building, which causes an obsessive thought that they will get sick from the germs, which can only be relieved by compulsively washing their hands to an excessive degree. Some of the most common obsessions include unwanted thoughts of harming loved ones, persistent doubts that one has not locked doors or switched off electrical appliances, intrusive thoughts of being contaminated, and morally or sexually repugnant.
Depression
Occasionally being sad or feeling hopeless is a part of every child’s life. However, some children feel sad or uninterested in things that they used to enjoy, or feel helpless or hopeless in situations where they could do something to address the situations. When children feel persistent sadness and hopelessness, they may be diagnosed with depression.
Persistent sadness is a symptom of depression. (Photo by Zhivko Minkov on Unsplash)
We now know that youth who have depression may show signs that are slightly different from the typical adult symptoms of depression. Children who are depressed may complain of feeling sick, refuse to go to school, cling to a parent or caregiver, feel unloved, hopelessness about the future, or worry excessively that a parent may die. Older children and teens may sulk, get into trouble at school, be negative or grouchy, are irritable, indecisive, have trouble concentrating, or feel misunderstood. Because normal behaviours vary from one childhood stage to another, it can be difficult to tell whether a child who shows changes in behaviour is just going through a temporary “phase” or is suffering from depression.
With medication, psychotherapy, or combined treatment, most youth with depression can be effectively treated. Youth are more likely to respond to treatment if they receive it early in the course of their illness.
Gender Identity
The development of gender and gender identity is likewise an interaction among social, biological, and representational influences (Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Young children learn about gender from parents, peers, and others in society, and develop their own conceptions of the attributes associated with maleness or femaleness (called gender schemas). They also negotiate biological transitions (such as puberty) that cause their sense of themselves and their sexual identity to mature.
Social influences such as cultural norms impact children’s interests, dress, style of speech and even life aspirations. (Image by Amanda Westmont is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Each of these examples of the growth of social and emotional competence illustrates not only the interaction of social, biological, and representational influences but also how their development unfolds over an extended period. Early influences are important, but not determinative because the capabilities required for mature moral conduct, gender identity, and other outcomes continue to develop throughout childhood, adolescence, and even the adult years.
As the preceding sentence suggests, social and personality development continues through adolescence and the adult years, and it is influenced by the same constellation of social, biological, and representational influences discussed for childhood. Changing social relationships and roles, biological maturation and how the individual represents both experience and the self, continue to form the bases for development throughout life. In this respect, when an adult looks forward rather than retrospectively to ask, “What kind of person am I becoming?”—A similarly fascinating, complex, multifaceted interaction of developmental processes lies ahead (Thompson, 2022).
social theories of development
Erik Erikson- Industry vs. Inferiority
Erik Erikson proposed that we are motivated by a need to achieve competence in certain areas of our lives. As we’ve learned in previous chapters, Erikson’s psychosocial theory has eight stages of development over the lifespan, from infancy through late adulthood. At each stage, there is a conflict, or task, that we need to resolve. Successful completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.
During middle childhood (ages 6-12), children face the task of Industry versus Inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves to their peers to see how they measure up.
The academic award this child is receiving may contribute to their sense of industry. (Image by Janarthanan Kesavan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)
They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate when they don’t measure up (OpenStax, n.d.).
According to Erikson, children in middle childhood are very busy or industrious. They are constantly doing, planning, playing, getting together with friends, achieving. This is a very active time and a time when they are gaining a sense of how they measure up when compared with friends. Erikson believed that if these industrious children can be successful in their endeavours, they will get a sense of confidence for future challenges. If not, a sense of inferiority can be particularly haunting during middle childhood.
Sigmund Freud – Psychoanalytic Theory
The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) focused on unconscious, biological forces that he felt shape individual personality. Freud thought that the personality consists of three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the selfish part of the personality and consists of biological instincts that all babies have, including the need for food and, more generally, the demand for immediate gratification. As babies get older, they learn that not all their needs can be immediately satisfied and thus develop the ego, or the rational part of the personality. As children get older still, they internalize society’s norms and values and thus begin to develop their superego, which represents society’s conscience. Freud believed that, in the event a child’s superego does not become strong enough, the individual is more at risk for being driven by the id to commit antisocial behaviour.
Development of the superego helps children overcome their unconscious desire to behave antisocially. (Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)
Families, Friendships and Peers
One of the reasons we often turn out much like our parents is that our families are such an important part of our socialization process. When we are young, our primary caregivers are almost always one or both of our parents, either biological or non-biological. For several years we have more contact with them than with any other adults. Because this contact occurs in our most formative years, our parents’ interaction with us and the messages they teach us can have a profound impact throughout our lives. During middle childhood, children start to spend less time with parents and more time with peers. Parents often find that they have to modify their approach to parenting to accommodate the child’s growing independence. Using reason and engaging in joint decision-making whenever possible may be the most effective approach (Berk, 2007, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021).
When children grow up to love reading, they may have been influenced by the positive experiences of being read to by their families. (Image by San José Public Library is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
Family Atmosphere
One of the ways to assess the quality of family life is to consider the tasks of families. Berger (2005, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) lists five family functions:
- Providing food, clothing and shelter
- Encouraging learning
- Developing self-esteem
- Nurturing friendships with peers
- Providing harmony and stability
Notice that in addition to providing food, shelter, and clothing, families are responsible for helping the child learn, relate to others, and have a confident sense of self. The family provides a harmonious and stable environment for living. A supportive home environment is one in which the child’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs are adequately met. Sometimes families emphasize physical needs but ignore cognitive or emotional needs. Other times, families pay close attention to physical needs and academic requirement, but may fail to nurture the child’s friendships with peers or guide the child toward developing healthy relationships. Parents might want to consider how it feels to live in the household. Is it stressful and conflict-ridden? Is it a place where family members enjoy being? (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
This mother is encouraging learning in their child. (Image by Intel Free Press is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
What Families Look Like
a childless family (Image by Adam Jones is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
a single parent (father) family (Image is licensed under CC0
an extended family (Image by Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is in the public domain)
a same-sex family (Image by Surrogacy-UK is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
a single parent (mother) family (Image is in the public domain)
a nuclear family (Image by Army Medicine is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Indigenous Perspectives
In first nation communities there may not be a legal adoption; however, a child may be raised by an aunt and uncle, a close family friend or grandparents without any papers being signed. It is a mutual agreement between the family member and the adopted family. This way the biological parents can still have a part to play in the child’s life. Sometimes it is in the best interest of the child. Sometimes the child is taken care of by that family because the parents are not yet ready to rear children or they are pursuing their education to better their lives. It is a very unique way that I have come to appreciate. Many people may judge the families.
Parent-child relationships are not the only significant relationships in a child’s life. Friendships take on new importance as judges of one’s worth, competence, and attractiveness. Friendships provide the opportunity for learning social skills such as how to communicate with others and how to negotiate differences. Children get ideas from one another about how to perform certain tasks, how to gain popularity, what to wear, say, and listen to, and how to act. This society of children marks a transition from a life focused on the family to a life concerned with peers. Peers play a key role in a child’s self-esteem at this age as any parent who has tried to console a rejected child will tell you. No matter how complimentary and encouraging the parent may be, being rejected by friends can only be remedied by renewed acceptance (Lumen Learning, n.d.).
Peers influence a child’s self-esteem. (Image by Robins Air Force Base is in the public domain)
Children’s conceptualization of what makes someone a “friend” changes from a more egocentric understanding to one based on mutual trust and commitment. Both Bigelow (1977) and Selman (1980) (as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021) believe that these changes are linked to advances in cognitive development. Bigelow and La Gaipa (1975, as cited in Lumen Learning, n.d.)) outline three stages to children’s conceptualization of friendship .
Friendships are very important for children. The social interaction with another child who is similar in age, skills, and knowledge provokes the development of many social skills that are valuable for the rest of life (Bukowski, Buhrmester, & Underwood, 2011, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). In these relationships, children learn how to initiate and maintain social interactions with other children. They learn skills for managing conflict, such as turn-taking, compromise, and bargaining. Play also involves the mutual, sometimes complex, coordination of goals, actions, and understanding. Through these experiences, children develop friendships that provide additional sources of security and support to those provided by their parents (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Peer relationships can be challenging as well as supportive (Rubin, Coplan, Chen, Bowker, & McDonald, 2011, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Being accepted by other children is an important source of affirmation and self-esteem, but peer rejection can foreshadow later behaviour problems (especially when children are rejected due to aggressive behaviour). With increasing age, children confront the challenges of bullying, peer victimization, and managing conformity pressures. Social comparison with peers is an important means by which children evaluate their skills, knowledge, and personal qualities, but it may cause them to feel that they do not measure up well against others. For example, a child who is not athletic may feel unworthy of their football-playing peers and revert to shy behaviour, isolating themselves and avoiding conversation. Conversely, an athlete who doesn’t “get” Shakespeare may feel embarrassed and avoid reading altogether.
Figure 12.16: Social comparison with peers is an important means by which children evaluate their value. (Image by the U.S Army is in the public domain)
Also, with the approach of adolescence, peer relationships become focused on psychological intimacy, involving personal disclosure, vulnerability, and loyalty (or its betrayal)—which significantly affect a child’s outlook on the world. Each of these aspects of peer relationships require developing very different social and emotional skills than those that emerge in parent-child relationships. They also illustrate the many ways that peer relationships influence the growth of personality and self-concept (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Most children want to be liked and accepted by their friends. Some popular children are nice and have good social skills. These popular-prosocial children tend to do well in school and are cooperative and friendly. Popular-antisocial children may gain popularity by acting tough or spreading rumours about others (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Rejected children are sometimes excluded because they are shy and withdrawn. The withdrawn-rejected children are easy targets for bullies because they are unlikely to retaliate when belittled (Boulton, 1999, as cited by Paris, Ricardo, Raymond, & Johnson, 2021). Other rejected children are ostracized because they are aggressive, loud, and confrontational. The aggressive-rejected children may be acting out of a feeling of insecurity. Unfortunately, their fear of rejection only leads to behaviour that brings further rejection from other children. Children who are not accepted are more likely to experience conflict, lack confidence, and have trouble adjusting.
Peer relationships are particularly important for children. They can be supportive but also challenging. Peer rejection may lead to behavioural problems later in life. (Image by tup wanders is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Indigenous Perspectives
For a child that lives in a First Nation (FN) community, peer relationships will differ from that of a child who lives in an urban setting where there may be a variety of choices. In small remote communities, they will not have as much selection regarding peer relationships. Some children might not have a choice regarding friendships.
During middle childhood, children start to spend less time with parents and more time with peers. Parents often find that they have to modify their approach to parenting to accommodate the child’s growing independence. In small and/or remote FN communities, a child’s peer may well be a cousin or another close relative due to a smaller population. This unique relationship is more like a sibling relationship. Other peers become like cousins. Much of their life from the time they are able to play outside alone, at school or at community functions is spent playing and exploring with peers that are more like cousins. There is a sense of safety on a FN community because everyone in the community watches out for the children. Children might gain independence at an earlier age than that of a child in a city or bigger urban setting. Often, the parents of their peer/adopted cousin become aunties and uncles. They are very much a part of the child’s life in regards to the roles that aunties and uncles play as mentioned in a comment from a previous chapter; they are the disciplinarian. Parenting styles are very different in FN communities. In large family structures, the older siblings are given the task of helping to rear their younger siblings.
bullying
Aggression and Antisocial Behaviour
Aggression may be physical, verbal or emotional. Aggression is activated in large part by the amygdala and regulated by the prefrontal cortex.
This child is threatening with physical aggression. (Image by Philippe Put is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Testosterone is associated with increased aggression in both males and females. Aggression can be caused by negative experiences and emotions, including frustration and pain. Heat has also been shown to increase aggressive behaviour. Psychologist Craig Anderson studied archival data and found the rate of violent crimes increases with temperature (Anderson, 2001). Finally, as predicted by principles of observational learning, research evidence makes it very clear that, on average, people who watch violent behaviour become more aggressive. Early, antisocial behaviour leads to befriending others who also engage in antisocial behaviour, which only perpetuates the downward cycle of aggression and wrongful acts (Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
Bullying and Victims
According to the Government of Canada (2016), bullying is defined as “willful, repeated aggressive behaviour with negative intent used by a child to maintain power over another child”. There are different types of bullying, including verbal bullying, which is saying or writing mean things, teasing, name-calling, taunting, threatening, or making inappropriate sexual comments. Social bullying, also referred to as relational bullying, involves spreading rumours, purposefully excluding someone from a group, or embarrassing someone on purpose. Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions.
A more recent form of bullying is cyberbullying, which involves electronic technology. Examples of cyberbullying include sending mean text messages or emails, creating fake profiles, and posting embarrassing pictures, videos or rumours on social networking sites. Children who experience cyberbullying have a harder time getting away from the behaviour because it can occur any time of day and without being in the presence of others.
Cyberbullying can be devastating for children. (Image on Pixabay)
Those at Risk for Bullying
Bullying can happen to anyone but some students are at an increased risk for being bullied, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, two spirit (LGBTQ2S) youth, those with disabilities, and those who are socially isolated. Additionally, those who are perceived as different, weak, less popular, overweight, or having low self-esteem, have a higher likelihood of being bullied.
Those Who are More Likely to Bully
Bullies are often thought of as having low self-esteem, and then bully others to feel better about themselves. Although this can occur, many bullies in fact have high levels of self-esteem. They possess considerable popularity and social power and have well-connected peer relationships. They do not lack self-esteem, and instead lack empathy for others. They like to dominate or be in charge of others.
Bullied Children
Unfortunately, most children do not let adults know that they are being bullied. Some fear retaliation from the bully, while others are too embarrassed to ask for help. Those who are socially isolated may not know who to ask for help or believe that no one would care or assist them if they did ask for assistance. Consequently, it is important for parents and teachers to know the warning signs that may indicate a child is being bullied. These include: unexplainable injuries, lost or destroyed possessions, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, declining school grades, not wanting to go to school, loss of friends, decreased self-esteem and/or self-destructive behaviours.
spiritual development in middlechildhood
We understand children develop holistically: physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally and spiritually. Spiritual development should not be confused with religion as it how children experience wonder, awe and joy while they develop an appreciation of beauty and connection to the natural world. This development allows them to build a sense of identify and meaning in their lives. According to Farebrother & Barnhart. (2022) Spiritual development occurs by:
- Living in the moment
- Reflecting on inner self
- Connecting to self and others
- Showing compassion to love self and others (Nelson 2009)
When children have the opportunities to discover and express their identity and spirituality, their emotional wellness improves. Let’s look at ways to develop spirituality in middle childhood.
Indigenous Perspectives
Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Framework for Learning follows the Indigenous traditional teaching of Mino-Pimatisiwin (The Good Life) refers to living a well-balanced life where all four components of a human are being addressed—emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual. (Manitoba Education, n.d) More information can be found here: Framework for Learning – Mino-Pimatisiwin (Cree) – The Good Life | Education and Early Childhood Learning
Promoting spiritual wellbeing
Educators can support spiritual well-being by creating environments which foster strong relationships, respect and a sense of community. Encouraging empathy, providing opportunities for collaboration and incorporating Indigenous perspectives can deepen children’s understanding of interconnectedness and balance. It’s important to allow children the opportunity to connect to the land, practice gratitude and respect living things.
goals of the saskatchewan curriculum
The Saskatchewan curriculum supports spiritual development in middle childhood by taking a holistic approach to learning, where children’s growth is viewed as interconnected across physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual domains. Rather than teaching spirituality as a separate subject, it is embedded across curriculum areas through opportunities for students to reflect on their identity, values, and sense of purpose. Learning experiences that promote inquiry, reflection, and personal meaning-making help students explore what matters to them and understand their place in the world.
This framework highlights how First Nations and Métis Education is holistic, allowing students to reflect on relationships with themselves, one another and the natural world. “The belief systems and worldviews of First Nations and Métis peoples are based on recognizing and respecting the delicate balance of interdependence within oneself and with all living things in the environment, both tangible and intangible. Within this balance are elements of the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental, as well as teachings that have been passed down through generations. Coming to know, understand and practice these teachings represents an individual’s lifelong learning journey, and sets a goal for a lifelong pursuit to live life in balance” (Government of Saskatchewan, n.d, p 7).
These approaches demonstrate that spiritual development is not a separate outcome of learning, but an ongoing process that supports children in developing a balanced sense of self, meaningful relationships, and a lifelong connection to the world around them.
Summary
- Patterns of physical growth.
- Nutritional needs.
- Causes of obesity and the negative consequences of excessive weight gain.
- Challenges to physical health including vision, hearing, oral health, diabetes, asthma and childhood stress.
- Piaget’s concrete operational stage of cognitive development.
- Theories of intelligence.
- How children process information.
- Critical thinking
- The process of learning to read
- Challenges in learning to read and write
- The influences of digital technology on communication, language and literacy
- Erikson’s fourth stage of industry vs. Inferiority
- The role of the family and different forms of families
- The importance of peers and friendships
- Consequences of peer acceptance or rejection
- The continuum of development of emotional skills during middle childhood
- Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
- Childhood mental health issues
- How school-age children continue to develop their self-understanding
- Self-efficacy and learned helplessness
- Resilience
- Gender identification
- Spiritual development in middle childhood
References
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