middle childhood:

cognitive DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 12

Beyond The Book

Real-life Moral Dilemmas in Children

The Heinz dilemma has been used in research on children’s moral development, but researchers have also been interested in children’s real life moral dilemmas. Interview one young child and one older child about real life moral dilemmas they have faced (e.g., whether or not to tell on a friend for cheating, whether to break curfew, etc.). Have them explain how they handled the situation and their reasoning behind the choice. Turn in a report describing the ages of these children (no names to protect confidentiality), their dilemma, and how they solved it, and an evaluation of what Kholberg stage their reasoning demonstrated and why.

Child Eyewitness Testimony

Based on the ideas about how children should not be lead to produce inaccurate eyewitness testimony, construct an interview between a social worker and a child who is suspected of being physically abused by a step-father (the child has unusual bruises on his back). The interview should illustrate the use of non-leading questions and appropriate follow-up questions to child answers.

Mechanisms of Cognitive Change

Construct a chart that does a compare and contrast analysis of Piaget’s, Vygotsky’s, and information processing theory’s approaches to the mechanisms of change.

Weight Loss Camps

Using the Internet, pretend to be parents of an obese 10-year-old. Investigate at least two weight-loss camps online. How do the methods in these camps help to incorporate life long eating changes? Which camp would you pick and why?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Access the National Institute for Mental Health website at Search the site for the very latest research and recommendations by experts about the use of medication in treatment. Discuss other treatments besides pharmacotherapy.

Learning with a Learning Disability

For non-learning disabled students, it is often difficult to understand what children with learning disabilities face in a regular classroom. Misunderstood Minds is a documentary from PBS that explores the lives of five children, living with learning disabilities. Visit the web site ) and "experience first-hand" what it is like to have attention, reading, writing, or mathematics problems.

The Jean Piaget Society

The following is the website for the Jean Piaget Society, a professional society of developmental psychologists interested in the work of Jean Piaget and conducting research themselves in the area of cognitive development:

Go to the program description of the most recent annual conference and find the list of plenary speakers. Use PsycInfo or another relevant search engine to find and read one publication by that person. T