HSH206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Moral Development, Deciduous Teeth, Latency Stage
The dependency years: middle childhood
Physical development
• Growth is slow and steady
• Body proportion changes- Head size moves in line with body size, arms and legs grow and
trunk becomes longer and thinner, chest broader and flatter
• Begin to show signs of muscle development
• Baby teeth are lost and adult teeth emerge to shape the lower jaw
• Increased motor development
• Obesity rates are increasing
• Nutrition is important
Motor skills
Up until middle childhood, there are minimal differences between boys and girls in their ability to
execute motor skills.
During middle childhood:
- Boys' gross motor development exceeds that of girl and they have greater physical strength
-Girls are better than boys at fine motor skills and tend to have better balance and co-ordination
Nutrition
Nutrition is important during all stages of life but is particularly important during middle childhood
as youngsters are generally fairly physically active and require energy. Also, their body is preparing
for the adolescent growth spurt so adequate nutrition is vital. This is also the period where children
can make their own decision about what to eat so parents need to encourage healthy eating during
this time.
Childhood obesity is a huge issue in Australia and many other countries so it seems that many
children are not eating healthy diets or participating in enough physical activity. We often hear
alarming statistics about the rate of obesity and this is largely contributed to an increased intake of
fast foods/fatty food and too much sedentary behaviour.
Cognitive development
Piaget's concrete operational period
• Reversibility
• Conservation
• Classification
• Seriation
• Numeration
During middle childhood, children are attending primary school and their cognitive development
helps them accomplish tasks set by the school. Primary school aged children are in what Piaget
called the concrete operational period. The notion of concrete thought incorporates the idea of
what can be seen, touched or manipulated. The child is caught up in thought processes that focus on
concreate realities. The idea of operations is the increasingly internalised nature of thought.
However, children at this stage still lack the ability to think in abstract terms.
Operations that can be performed during this stage:
Reversibility: Enables children to retrace their thoughts. Children achieve this when they can
understand that opposite numbers cancel each other out. Similarly, they can understand that when
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Document Summary
Up until middle childhood, there are minimal differences between boys and girls in their ability to execute motor skills. Boys" gross motor development exceeds that of girl and they have greater physical strength. Girls are better than boys at fine motor skills and tend to have better balance and co-ordination. Nutrition is important during all stages of life but is particularly important during middle childhood as youngsters are generally fairly physically active and require energy. Also, their body is preparing for the adolescent growth spurt so adequate nutrition is vital. This is also the period where children can make their own decision about what to eat so parents need to encourage healthy eating during this time. Childhood obesity is a huge issue in australia and many other countries so it seems that many children are not eating healthy diets or participating in enough physical activity.
