Chapter Overview

Information Processing Theories

• Information processing and intelligence theories help specify the cognitive processes and mental abilities that change with development. Information processing theories focus on developmental changes in children's abilities to encode, store, and retrieve information, whereas intelligence theories focus on individual differences in children's cognitive abilities within age groups.

• According to information processing theorists, important developmental changes occur in children's attentional processes, memory strategies, content knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. As children mature, they become more selective and efficient in their use of attentional, memory, and learning strategies. As a result, they can remember larger amounts of information for longer periods of time.

• Attention is a process of perceiving or extracting what is relevant for the task at home. As children develop, they acquire the ability to make fine discriminations between stimulus objects, to deploy their attention selectively and strategically, and to exert control over their attentional processes.

• Memory processes are evident early in development. By the preschool years, children can recall familiar stories, experiences, routines, and events. During the early and late elementary years, children begin to use memory strategies to encode information that is unfamiliar. Rehearsal strategies appear first, followed by organization and elaboration strategies.

• Researchers distinguish between recognition and recall memory. Recognition memory involves recognizing a stimulus, whereas recall memory involves remembering that stimulus without information, prompts, or cues to aid its recall. With development, children can recall information with fewer prompts or cues. They can also search their memory in a more systematic, selective, and strategic manner.

• Children's existing knowledge can influence attentional and memory processes. Expert versus novice studies indicate that a highly integrated knowledge base results in faster processing of information, more effective use of encoding strategies, and more efficient use of cognitive resources.

• Metacognition refers to children's knowledge and understanding of their own thinking processes. As children develop, they acquire a greater understanding that there are limits to what can be remembered, some learning tasks require more cognitive effort than others, and certain strategies can aid the recall of information. Children use this knowledge to choose more effective memory and learning strategies.

• Age-related changes in metacognitive knowledge also facilitate the development of self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learners can plan, organize, monitor, and evaluate their own learning activities. Evidence indicates that children show a significant increase in their use of self-regulated learning strategies between the fifth and eighth grades. However, study strategies, such as comprehension and monitoring, continue to develop well into adolescence.

• Although there are many ways teachers can facilitate the development of information processing skills in the classroom, research suggests that strategy instruction is very infrequent. Teachers need to make a greater effort to teach specific cognitive strategies, to provide information concerning their usefulness in learning, and to suggest when strategies may be useful for other learning situations.

Intelligence Theories and Cognitive Development

• There is considerable variability in children's cognitive abilities within any age group. Standardized tests of intelligence or achievement are used to assess individual differences in cognitive development. Intelligence tests are thought to measure a child's ability to use information in new ways or potential to learn, whereas achievement tests are measure what children have gained from instruction at home or school.

• There is no agreed-on definition of intelligence. Some theorists have argued that intelligence represents a general or global intellectual capacity, whereas others have argued that intelligence represents several independent skills or abilities. Most intelligence tests used today yield a profile of a child's intellectual abilities.

• An IQ score represents an estimate of a child's cognitive abilities relative to children of the same age. Most IQ tests have a mean of 100 points. A standard deviation is a measure of the average amount scores vary from the mean. In a normal distribution, most children's scores fall within one standard deviation above or below the mean.

• IQ tests are not equally valid for all children. To perform well on traditional measures of intelligence, children must have a good deal of familiarity with middle-class culture and good verbal skills. Caution should be used when these tests are employed to assess children from different ethnic, socioeconomic, and language backgrounds.

• As children develop, the stability of their IQ scores increases. By middle childhood, IQ scores are reasonably good predictors of adult IQ. However, the IQ scores of some children can fluctuate as much as 20 to 30 points between the ages of 2 and 17.

• Studies of biological twins are an important source of information concerning the influence of genetic and environmental factors on intelligence. For the most part, these studies reveal that approximately 50 percent of the variation in intelligence within a population can be attributed to genetic influences. However, it is very difficult to separate genetic and environmental influences. Most researchers focus on how genetic and environmental factors interact to influence intellectual development. Genes may set the upper and lower limits for intellectual development, but the environment may explain variations in development within that range.

• Several aspects of the home environment can influence early intellectual development. Research indicates that parents can have a positive influence on their children's cognitive development when they provide appropriate stimulation and play materials; encourage exploration and stimulate curiosity; and create a warm, supportive, and responsive environment. Later in children's development, parents not only must provide a stimulating and encouraging home environment but also must take an active role in the child's schooling. The validity of this research for different ethnic and socioeconomic groups is currently being examined.

• Early intervention can help offset the negative effects of a poor home environment. Head Start children are more likely to make significant gains in IQ, to score high on academic achievement tests, to remain on grade level, to graduate from high school, and to attend college than comparable groups of children who did not attend Head Start programs. Evidence suggests that earlier and longer interventions may have a stronger impact on children's intellectual functioning, but these programs are costly and not widely available.

• Formal schooling is another important aspect of the environment that influences children's intellectual development. Children who start school earlier, remain in school longer, and attend higher-quality schools have higher IQ scores. Theorists argue that schooling influences IQ scores because schools teach the type of information and skills children need to perform well on intelligence tests. Because IQ tests are strongly influenced by schooling experiences, some researchers question the use of IQ tests as a measure of innate intellectual functioning.

Group Differences and Cognitive Abilities

• Research shows that children from different ethnic and racial groups, with the exception of Asian-Americans, score significantly lower than Anglo-American children on virtually every measure of cognitive ability. Some evidence suggests that ethnic differences in achievement are narrowing, but they remain large.

• Most researchers believe that ethnic differences in students' IQ and achievement test scores are due to social and economic factors. When differences in socioeconomic background are controlled, performance gaps narrow but do not completely disappear. Some factors that contribute to the lower performance of ethnic minorities on mental tests include language or dialect differences, a school culture that favors white, middle-class students, and tracking systems that limit minority children's learning and achievement opportunities in school.

• Gender differences in students' cognitive abilities are less evident today than 20 years ago. Differences are small for tests of verbal, visual-spatial, and mathematical abilities, but remain large for tests of scientific skills. Most researchers view girls and boys as more similar than different in their cognitive abilities.

• Efforts to explain gender differences in cognitive abilities focus on biological and environmental influences. The influence of hormones and brain organization on cognitive functioning is not well understood. Therefore, most researchers focus on differences in children's socialization experiences. There is considerable evidence that boys and girls are treated differently and encouraged to pursue different activities at home. Research has also documented the numerous ways boys and girls are treated differently at school. Schools tend to reproduce gender inequities in society.

• Schools need to make a better effort to create learning environments that provide equal resources, encouragement, and opportunities for boys and girls of all backgrounds. Multicultural education programs are designed to promote equal educational opportunities and to increase positive intergroup attitudes and values. Creating a positive learning environment for all students will involve radical changes in curriculum materials, the organization and culture of schools, the attitudes and beliefs of school staff, and the ways students are currently taught and assessed.

Television, Computers, and Children's Learning

• On average, children watch 3 to 4 hours of television per day. Younger children watch more television than adolescents do, and boys watch more television than girls do.

• There is no strong evidence that television displaces reading or homework time.

• The effects of television viewing depend on the amount of viewing time and content. When children watch more than 30 hours of television per week, it can have a negative impact on school achievement.

• High-quality television programs for children can have positive effects on early math and reading skills, as well as school readiness and adjustment.

• Computers are becoming a routine part of children's lives, but access to high-quality computers and software is tied to family income.

• Students' use of computers for school-related purposes increases with age. There are similar patterns of computer use for girls and boys today.

• Research on the effects of computers on students' learning is fairly limited. Computer programs tend to have the greatest impact when they use a constructivist approach and emphasize high-order thinking skills.