Study Guide
Cognitive Development
Study Guide
Objectives:
●
Compare and contrast the perspectives and
principles of Piaget and Vygotsky
●
Identify specific ways to implement the theories
of Piaget and Vygotsky in classroom instruction
●
Recognize the limitations of these theories
Key Terms:
General
Principles of Development - Pages 31-33
Sensitive periods – A time period in
your life where you are ready or more responsive to certain experiences and
circumstances.
General Principles of Development
·
Students will develop at different rates.
·
For the most part development is orderly.
Abilities develop in a logical order. Orderly does not mean linear or
predictable. It means that some will advance, some will stay in that realm for
a time period before progressing, and other could take steps backwards.
·
Development will take place gradually. It will
not happen overnight. You have to allow time for the change to take place.
Piaget - Pages
45-57, 67-68
Scheme – Building blocks of thinking.
They are organized thoughts that allow us to think about certain objects or
events. An example of a scheme is learning how to ride a bike. You have to
learn how to balance yourself and steer and pedal at the same time.
Assimilation – when you try to
understand something new by fitting it into something that you know already.
Accommodation – when new information is
presented you determine if you need to alter an existing scheme or create a new
scheme.
Equilibration – searching for a balance
between schemes and new information.
Disequilibrium – when you realize that
your current way of solving or understanding a problem is not working
Sensorimotor stage (and its attributes)
– thinking that involves the motor and senses activities.
·
Children in this stage make sure of memory,
thoughts, and imitation
·
Children start to realize that objects do not
disappear they are just hidden
·
Children move from reflex actions to
goal-directed activity.
Preoperational stage (and its attributes)
– thinking is preoperational because children has moved toward mastery but has
not mastered mental operations.
·
Children start to think in symbolic form
·
Children can start to think problems through
logically in one direction
·
Children usually have a hard time seeing other
people’s point of view.
Concrete operational stage (and its
attributes) – mental tasks tied to hands on activities and situations.
·
Children can solve problems in a logical order
·
Children can understand the laws of conservation
and they are able to classify.
·
Children can understand that tasks can be
reversible
Formal operational stage (and its
attributes) – tasks that involve children to think abstractly and
coordinate various variations.
·
Students can solve abstract problems in a
logical order
·
Students are able to do more scientific thinking
·
Students can identify and develop concerns
around social issues.
Adolescent egocentrism – adolescents
know that there are other perceptions and beliefs however they are more focused
on their own. They spend more time analyzing their own attitudes and beliefs.
Vygotsky - Pages
58-66, 69-71
Sociocultural theory – It is the theory
developed by Lev Vygotsky. This theory emphasizes the importance of
socialization on cognitive development. Cognitive
development occurs through dialogue between children and more knowledgeable
individuals (teachers, parents, peers, etc).
Internalization – Knowing that knowledge
existed outside first and that we eventually brought it in and made it part of
our own skill sets.
Co-constructed – collaboration between
a student and a teacher (can even be child and parent, or two students) to interpret,
understand, and/or solve a problem.
Cultural tools – tools such as
calculators and spell checkers that allow people to think, communicate, and
solve problems.
Private Speech (Self-talk and Inner speech)
– self-talk that guides thinking and action. They start out verbally and
eventually they become internalized as silent inner speech.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) – the
space between what the student already knows and what the student has not yet
ready to learn. In this space scaffolding can support their learning.
Scaffolding – Using cues and structure
to guide students learning. Scaffolding
moves students beyond their current skill set into more challenging skills.
Funds of knowledge – Knowledge that is
acquired through many areas of home life, religious factors, and work life that
can be used as a basis of teaching. As teachers this can be beneficial to know
so that you can help make students make connections with new concepts by
knowing their prior knowledge and personal background.
Guided participation – students engage
in learning activities where the teacher provides the guidance and structure
needed in order for the students to acquire the new skills
Cognitive apprenticeship – similar to a
mentor or student – a student with fewer capabilities is peered with a more
experienced person. The goal is to teach the student how to think like an
expert in the given field.
Summary:
Jean Piaget developed a
model that describes how adolescent’s process, organize, and develop
information. His theory centered on the idea that children are motivated and
active learners. He theorized that children developed schemes (or file
cabinets) to develop concepts. This learning occurred through assimilation and accommodation.
Vygotsky
theory is referred to as "social constructiveness " The
main idea of this theory is that children develop their thinking based off of
exposure through their parents, teachers, elders, etc (whoever is
more knowledgeable than the child). The development occurs through a process
called internalization. Internalization occurred when children knew that their knowledge existed outside of themselves first and
that eventually they brought it internally and made it part of their own skill
sets.
Application Questions:
1. Which of Piaget’s stage(s) will your
students be in? How will this impact how and what you teach? Be very specific.
Most
of my students are going to be in the formal operational stage however I could
have some students in the concrete operational stage. Since I may have students
in a couple of stages I will need to make sure that my instruction compensates
for that. For the formal stage students will be developing or have started to
develop abstract skills and students in the concrete operational stage are able
to think logically but may not be able to grasp the abstract skills quite yet.
I can use teaching models such as the Concept Attainment model. This allows me
to teach to both types of students but allows them to process the information
that works best for them. They will be able to define a concept buy observing
examples and non-examples and from that definition name the concept.
2. Describe a topic in your content area that
may cause your students to experience disequilibrium. How will you help them to
assimilate and/or accommodate this information?
Disequilibrium
can occur in almost any topic in Business/Marketing. One specific topic is
Business Law. In Business Law you have multiple processes of law i.e.,
procedural law, criminal law, tort law, contract law, etc. Students will be in
disequilibrium at first because tort law may not fit into the typical laws they
are aware of. Typical laws can be traffic laws, mandate curfews,
drinking/smoking ages, etc. Using teaching models such as the Concept
Attainment model or the Concept Development model will cause students to
accommodate the information and form new schemes.
3. Describe an instance of scaffold
instruction in your past.
Last
semester one of my professors used scaffolding in her class. We had to create
an Integrated Marketing Plan for a real company in Utah County. Instead of
having just lectures every class period and then the assignment at the end of
the semester she broke the assignments up into major sections. Each class
period she would focus on one part of the first section and then the next part,
etc. until the part 1 assignment was due. For a class period she would
introduce the topic, go over main points, and then she would apply it to our
companies. She would go around the room and ask each group how it applies to
the company they are working for and if we could list examples. By the end of
the unit we would be able to turn in a “masterpiece” that we have worked on our
own based off the class discussions.
4. How might you differentiate a lesson in
your content area for different Zones of Proximal Development? Pick a specific
topic and think of a concrete way to differentiate your instruction on that
topic.
The
topic that comes to mind is Career Plans for Financial Literacy. Teaching this
topic in class can have differentiation. For example, the class can be learning
about how to make a career plan. I would introduce the topic, show them
examples of career plans and outline the parts of a career plan. Then students
can get into groups with sample scenario’s of careers and build their own
career plan. For homework, individual students will make their own career plan
on the career of their choice. Differentiation for this activity can be
achieved by doing the following:
a. Readiness: Provide Spanish translations of the unit’s
vocabulary. There will also be computers
in the room for students to look up work skills for specific careers. We will also have dictionaries for the
students.
b. Interest: Each group will get to work on the career
plan to develop the research paper of their choosing.
c. Profile: Research online for their career research
paper – allowing the kinesthetic learners to use their hands on the computer.
d. Affect: Create a fun business learning experience for
the students with descriptions of some fun careers before they break into
groups for the research paper to get them excited about some careers they might
be interested in.
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