Which of the following characterize the period of ‘middle childhood’?
2021
Which of the following characterize the period of ‘middle childhood’?
- A.
Physical growth and development occur at a very rapid pace.
- B.
Ability to think abstractly and use of scientific reasoning develops.
- C.
Children begin to think logically but concretely.
- D.
Learning occurs primarily through sensory and motor activities.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: Piaget's theory of cognitive development places middle childhood (roughly ages 7 to 11) in the Concrete Operational Stage. In this stage children acquire true logical operations — conservation, classification, seriation, and reversibility — but these operations work only on concrete, directly perceivable objects and situations; reasoning about purely abstract or hypothetical ideas is not yet available.
Application: For this item, the description that a child ‘begins to think logically but concretely’ is exactly the concrete-operational profile of middle childhood: logical structure is present, but it stays tied to tangible, real-world content rather than to abstract symbols or hypothetical propositions.
Cross-check: Checking the other developmental hallmarks confirms none of them belongs to middle childhood:
Rapid physical growth is the hallmark of infancy and of the adolescent growth spurt, not the comparatively slow, steady growth of middle childhood.
Abstract thought and formal scientific reasoning define the Formal Operational Stage, which emerges from adolescence (roughly age 12) onward — later than middle childhood.
Learning driven mainly by sensory and motor activity defines the Sensorimotor Stage of infancy (birth to about 2 years), well before middle childhood begins.