“Who am I as a learner?”: Growth in Elementary Years
Co-author: Chloe Shaw
Read this article to get a single snapshot of development critical to the elementary school years. Use this information to choose an elementary school, determine how best to support your elementary school-age child and decide what to do about screen time in your family.
Have you ever witnessed a child learn and grow during the elementary school years and wondered what on earth is taking place in order to transform that once childlike 6-year-old into the nearly self-sufficient tween? Indeed the middle childhood years—defined as ages 6 through 11—are marked by huge developmental advances. During this period, children’s vocabularies quadruple from approximately 10,000 words to 40,000. Their equally rapid physical development enables them to engage in a variety of new activities. These cognitive and physical advances take place simultaneous with a critical shift in their understanding of the world. Beginning at age 6, until the onset of puberty between 10 and 12, children gradually begin to view the world as a place with rules and customs they must learn and assimilate. Children experience four major areas of development: physical, cognitive, social, and emotional.
Physical
The physical growth that occurs during middle childhood enables children to take on new activities that would not have been possible without the help of an adult during early childhood. These new skills emerge largely due to profound motor development advances. By the end of middle childhood, children’s fine motor skills reach nearly an adult level, which is especially evident in the improvement of their drawings and handwriting.
In terms of gross motor development, children’s gross motor skills (running, climbing, kicking, throwing) improve as a result of their developing balance, strength, coordination, agility, and faster reaction time. These gross motor improvements give children the skills needed to do many new physical activities—from dancing to dribbling a ball, to landing a cartwheel to navigating the jungle gym. Naturally, with the new physical abilities that develop during middle childhood, a greater capacity and desire for independence emerges.
Cognitive
Advances made in the realm of cognitive development during middle childhood further contribute to children’s yearning for autonomy. During middle childhood, gradual maturing of the prefrontal cortex, which becomes particularly evident between ages 6 and 7, leads to dramatic increases in attention and memory. Specific developments in children’s attention include the improvement of their selective focus, attention span, and systematic planning about what to attend to. By age 8, children can consciously will themselves to maintain attention in order to compete a task. Memory is improved due to children’s developing capacity to sort information by time, place, category, and other cues. By the end of the middle childhood years, children’s ability to categorize memories and deliberately recall information is nearly as efficient as an adult’s.
Advances in children’s linguistic development are also significant. Once children begin reading, their vocabulary expands like never before. Their developing literacy leads to a more sophisticated use of grammar and pragmatics. Taken together, advances in cognitive development further push children’s drive and capacity for independence. For instance, consider a child who has an idea of how to solve a tricky problem. By the end of middle childhood, he can not only use his improved fine motor skills to do so, but also take advantage of his enhanced attention and memory to help organize the necessary steps of the task in order to get it done. Hence, a strong sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency develop through these new cognitive abilities.
Social and Emotional
While physical and cognitive development during middle childhood is marked by an emerging sense of independence, children’s social and emotional development is defined by their expanding knowledge about their place in the world in relation to others. Learning how to behave and relate to others, while also establishing an identity are key developments during middle childhood. During these years, children enter the larger world—namely school—and they must learn its values, rules, and routines. Due to their developing theory of mind (the knowledge that people have perspectives, thoughts, and feelings different from one’s own) by age 6, children are able to perceive and acknowledge another person’s different point of view. This powerful knowledge supports children in relating to others and in building friendships. As their ability to relate with others develops, so too does their identity. During middle childhood, children create a sense of self that is closely tied to their sense of accomplishment in comparison to their peers. Thanks to the advances in their physical and cognitive development, they want—and are now able—to feel capable in their activities. And the level of success or failure they experience in these activities dictates the way they view themselves. In sum, through interactions with peers and adults, children learn how to behave and relate to others, which helps them form their own identity and place in the world.
Middle childhood is a time of monumental changes—both inward in terms of gaining autonomy and outward by way of learning one’s place in the context of others. The upcoming article will build on the topics discussed throughout this article and consider these areas of development through the lens of a contentious issue: screen time. Does media impact children’s development? Does it help or hinder their cognitive development? Does too much screen time make children less emotionally intelligent? All of these questions and more will be considered in the upcoming article.
References:
“Ages and Stages: A Parent’s Guide to Normal Childhood Development” – Schaefer & DiGeronimo
“Child Development: A Practitioner’s Guide” – Davies
“Human Development: A Cultural Approach” – Arnett
“The Development of Children” – Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole
About the co-author: Chloe Shaw majored in Psycholinguistics at Quest University in Canada. She will be a graduate student in School Counseling at Seattle University in the fall of 2016.