Infancy (Birth–2)
What You Might Observe:
- Some ability to learn evident from birth
- Adultlike hearing acuity within hours after birth
- Considerable improvement in visual acuity over the first year
- Preference for moderately complex stimuli
- Attention easily drawn to intense or novel stimuli
- Some ability to integrate information (e.g., learning that certain kinds of toys are stored in certain places in the playroom)
Diversity:
- Attention spans are partly due to differences in temperament, but persistent inability to focus on any one object may signal a cognitive disability.
- Exploration tendencies vary considerably: Some children may constantly seek new experiences, whereas others may be more comfortable with familiar objects.
Implications:
- Change some toys and materials regularly to capture infants’ interests and provide new experiences.
- Provide objects that can be easily categorized (e.g., colored blocks, plastic farm animals).
- Allow for differences in interest, attention span, and exploratory behavior; offer choices of toys and activities.
Early Childhood (2–6)
What You Might Observe:
- Short attention span
- Distractibility
- Some understanding and use of symbols
- Limited knowledge base with which to interpret new experiences
Diversity:
- Pronounced disabilities in information processing (e.g., ADHD, dyslexia) begin to reveal themselves in children’s behavior.
- Children’s prior knowledge differs markedly depending on their cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Implications:
- Change activities often.
- Keep unnecessary distractions to a minimum.
- Provide a variety of experiences (field trips to the library, fire department, etc.) that enrich children’s knowledge base.
Middle Childhood (6–10)
What You Might Observe:
- Increasing ability to attend to important stimuli and ignore irrelevant stimuli
- Increasingly symbolic nature of thought and knowledge
- Gradual automatization of basic skills
- Increasing exposure to environments beyond the home and family, leading to an expanding knowledge base
- Knowledge of academic subject matter relatively unintegrated, especially in science and social studies
Diversity:
- Many children with learning disabilities or ADHD have short attention spans and are easily distracted.
- Some children with learning disabilities have a smaller working memory capacity than their peers.
- Mild cognitive disabilities may not become evident until the middle or upper elementary grades.
Implications:
- Intersperse sedentary activities with physically more active ones to help children maintain attention.
- Provide many opportunities to practice basic knowledge and skills (e.g., number facts, word recognition), often through authentic, motivating, and challenging tasks.
- Begin to explore hierarchies, cause and effect, and other interrelationships among ideas in various disciplines.
- Consult experts when learning or behavior problems might reflect a cognitive disability.
Early Adolescence (10–14)
What You Might Observe:
- Ability to attend to a single task for an hour or more
- Basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics (e.g., word identification, common word spellings, basic math facts) largely automatized
- Growing (although not necessarily well integrated) knowledge base related to various topics and academic disciplines
Diversity:
- Many adolescents with information processing difficulties have trouble paying attention for a typical class period.
- Many adolescents with sensory or physical disabilities (e.g., those who are blind or in a wheelchair) have a more limited knowledge base than their peers, due to fewer opportunities to explore the world around them.
Implications:
- Provide variety in learning tasks as a way of keeping young adolescents’ attention.
- Frequently point out how concepts and ideas are related to one another, both within and across content domains.
- Provide extra guidance and support for those with diagnosed or suspected information processing difficulties.
Late Adolescence (14–18)
What You Might Observe:
- Ability to attend to a single task for lengthy periods
- Extensive and somewhat integrated knowledge in some content domains
Diversity:
- High school students have choices in course selection, leading to differences in the extent of their knowledge base in various content areas.
Implications:
- Occasionally give assignments that require adolescents to focus on a particular task for a long period.
- Consistently encourage adolescents to think about the “hows” and “whys” of what they are learning.
- Assess learning in ways that require adolescents to depict relationships among ideas.
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Excerpt from Child Development and Education, by T.M McDevitt, J.E. Ormrod, 2007 edition, p. 247.
© ______ 2007, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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