Middle Childhood is the
stage that encompasses the ages between 7 until 11.
In middle childhood as
in any other stage of human development, it can be found three different areas
that will be the target to discuss in this entry. The first area is the
“Physical development”. Although in this area there are no big changes in
children’s physical skills, it is important to mention what indicators we can
consider when working with students in middle childhood. Some of those
indicators are: a better use of gross motor skills like practicing sports that
require the child to jump, kick balls, run, etc. Children at this age can also
use the fine motor skills better such as using scissors without difficulties,
buttoning their outfits, tying shoelaces with no parents’ help, etc.
On the other hand, we
can also find the Cognitive development in middle childhood, and unlike
physical development, in this area children suffer more significant changes.
For instance, according to the Piagetian theory, children aged between 7 and 11
can have a better understanding of mental operations, better logical thinking
about concrete events by seriation, transitive inference, and class inclusion. Nonetheless, children may also have some difficulties with abstract or hypothetical
concepts, but they can express themselves in increasingly complex ways. Children can plan
ahead and evaluate different courses of action as well, and follow rules that do not
make sense to them because they think in black and white terms.
Finally, the third area
comes up in middle childhood which is the “Psychosocial development”. In this
area there are two theories that are worth considering, the first one is
“Industry vs. Inferiority” by Erik Erikson. Such theory exposes that children
who are in middle childhood often focus on school and academic achievement; therefore, it is important to encourage such children to develop new skills and
build a healthy sense of industriousness. As a result, if parents do not help children to develop confidence in their abilities, such situation can lead to both emotional
and academic problems. In this area we can also find Piaget’s theory which
focuses on self-definition. According to Piaget, children at this age become
more aware about the “self”, and so they become more realistic, more balanced,
and more comprehensive. Children at this age are able to recognize what they
are capable to do (weaknesses and strengths), but they still have
characteristic of comparing their “self” with the ideal one.
Hello Brenda,
ReplyDeleteI consider that the information that you have shared in this entry is very important because you have applied the theories with the reality on the Teaching field. I agree when you mention that teachers should take into account what skills and abilities the young learners have developed, so I consider that it is an essential point if we as future English teachers want to design the appropriate activities and materials for children. Thus, we should take into account what things young learners (children) can do and take advantage of those student’s skills and abilities in order to promote learning.
Hello Brenda, thanks for sharing this value information about the development in middle childhood. I agree with you with the processes than take place on each areas of the development. As you mention, on the physical development children do not present significant changes, but they start mastering the abilities that they learn on the previous stages: gross and fine motor skills. On the cognitive development they improve a lot, they move from the giving explanations based on inferences or their imagination to thinking logically. They can process real situations but not hypothetical. What I liked the most was psychosocial development. I think that the moment when you are able to define yourself is a crucial point to anyone. Being able to identify your strengths and weaknesses is crucial to improve as a person. But I have a question, how teachers and caregivers should control the creation of this self-definition? I mean, if nobody is checking this process, children could start thinking that they are superior to others, and even the necessity of destroying others self-stem. This can make children go back to egocentrism; something that at this stage should have been overcome.
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