edp1280135016711 pp02 2

Paul Eggen and Don KauchakEducational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms, Eighth Edition

© 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.All Rights Reserved

CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITION

AND LANGUAGE



PowerPoint 2.1 Factors Influencing Human Intellectual Development

Intellectual Development



PowerPoint 2.2 Principles of Development and Examples (slide 1 of 2)

Principle ExampleDevelopment depends on both heredity and the environment.

Because they are more mature, which depends largely on heredity, older children can run faster than those who are younger, they are better able to understand the perspectives of others, and they are able to think more systematically and abstractly.

Children whose parents have read and talked to them at home generally achieve higher in school than those having less experience, which illustrates the role of the environment in development.



PowerPoint 2.2 Principles of Development and Examples (slide 2 of 2)

Principle ExampleDevelopment proceeds in orderly and predictable patterns.

Children babble before they talk, generally crawl before they walk, and learn concrete concepts, such as tree and square before they learn abstract ones, such as density and culture.

People develop at different rates.

One middle school student will seem to be a child whereas another is a young woman or young man.

Two fourth graders will vary significantly in their ability to benefit from a learning activity.



What Do These Descriptions Have in Common? 1. Psychologists have learned that rumors emerge to explain confusing

situations that are important to us and to relieve the tension of uncertainty. Their investigations suggest that highly anxious people spread rumors much more frequently than calm ones do, and rumors persist until the expectations that give rise to the uncertainty are fulfilled, or until the anxiety abates.

2. The function of myth is to make sense of things that are not otherwise understandable.

3. A sportswriter argues that sports are very important in our culture. They are one of the few things in life that have a conclusion. It is remedial medicine to attend sporting events -nine innings to a conclusion, 60 minutes to a conclusion, 15 rounds to a conclusion.

PowerPoint 2.3 What Do These Examples Have in Common?



PowerPoint 2.4 Maintaining Equilibrium Through the Process of Adaptation



Instructions: Read the following vignette and then describe in a paragraph how each of the following concepts, scheme, experience, equilibrium, organization, accommodation, assimilation, and development are illustrated in it.

You have learned to drive a car with an automatic transmission, and you’re very comfortable driving a variety of cars. Then, you are asked to help a friend move, and your friend asks you to drive her car to her new location as she drives a moving truck. However, the car has a stick shift, and you’re very uncomfortable trying to drive it. Your friend helps you get started, and finally you’re able to manage and you’re now able to drive vehicles with both automatic transmissions and with stick shifts. Sometime later, you help another friend move, and he has a pickup truck with a stick shift. Now, you’re able to comfortably drive the pickup truck.

PowerPoint 2.5 An Example of Development in the Real World (slide 1 of 2)



Feedback: You have had a variety of experiences with driving cars having automatic transmissions, and you have organized those experiences into a “driving” scheme.

Your scheme has helped you to achieve equilibrium. However, when you encountered the car with a stick shift your equilibrium was disrupted, and you were forced to accommodate your scheme.

You modified your original driving scheme and constructed a new “driving-with-a-stick-shift” scheme, and your equilibrium was re-established.

You were then able to assimilate the experience with the pickup truck into your “driving-with a-stick-shift” scheme.

As a result of your added experience with driving vehicles having stick shifts, your driving ability is more fully developed than it was when you were only able to drive vehicles with automatic transmissions.

PowerPoint 2.5 An Example of Development in the Real World (slide 2 of 2)



PowerPoint 2.6 Piaget’s Stages and Characteristics

Stage Characteristics Examples

Sensorimotor (0 to 2)

Goal directed behaviorRepresents objects in memory

Searches for an object behind a parent’s back

Preoperational (2 to 6 or 7)

Symbolic thought Dominated by perception • Egocentrism• Centration

Identifies a variety of objects by nameLacks transformation, reversibility and systematic reasoning

Concrete Operational (7 to 11 or 12)

Thinks logically with concrete materials Classifies and serial orders

Concludes that two objects of different volumes have the same mass on a balance that is “balanced”Orders a series of items from longest to shortest

Formal Operational11 or 12 to adult

Solves abstract and hypothetical problems

Thinks systematically

Considers what the world would have been like if Germany had won World War II

Systematically determines the number of sandwiches that can be made from three kinds of bread, meat, and cheese



PowerPoint 2.7 An Example of Perceptual Thinking



PowerPoint 2.8 Centration and Egocentrism



PowerPoint 2.9 Measuring Thinking (slide 1 of 4)



1. True. We can see that A is bigger than B. A preoperational thinker would be able to respond correctly to this item, since it is perceptual.

2. False. The balance is balanced, so they have the same weight. This requires concrete operational thinking. Young children center on the size and conclude that A is heavier. (Technically the balance measures mass, but using weight is acceptable for this discussion.)

6. False. Since their weights (masses) are the same and A is larger, it is less dense than B. Again many students center on the size and conclude that A is more dense. The concept of density is abstract, so it is a formal operational task.

The concept of density can be presented concretely, however, as Karen Johnson did on page 36 of the text.




4. True. If the two objects have the same weight, they cannot be made of the same substance. This is an abstract idea, and requires hypothetical thinking. This is a formal operational task.

5. True. In order to make the balloons the sizes of the blocks, more air would have to be put into balloon 1, so it would be heavier. This is also abstract and hypothetical—a formal operational task.




Research indicates that few people are formal operational outside their own areas of expertise.

I use as many concrete examples in my instruction as possible, because you are likely to be concrete operational with respect to many of the topics we cover in this class because the material is new.

I also am concrete operational in areas where I lack experience.




Read the two examples below and identify the two concepts best illustrated in them. (The same two concepts are illustrated in each example.)

1. A married woman called a “pop” psychologist on a radio call-in show to ask for advice.

She asked what she could do to make her mother-in-law be more reasonable, who, in her view was difficult and uncompromising. During the course of the conversation, it was revealed that the woman and her husband were living in her mother-in-law's house, and further, they were living in the house rent free.

2. A former NFL football player was caught dealing drugs. He was convicted

of drug trafficking, and he served time in jail. Upon being released, he commented at a press conference, “No one should ever have to go through what I went through.”

PowerPoint 2.10 Preoperational Characteristics in Adult’s Thinking (slide 1 of 2)



Feedback:Both people were centering–the woman on her disagreements with her mother-in-law, and the football player on the fact that he spent time in jail–and they were ignoring other salient facts, such as living rent free in her mother-in-law's house, and having dealt drugs. They also demonstrated remarkable egocentrism by only seeing it from their point of view.

PowerPoint 2.10 Preoperational Characteristics in Adult’s Thinking (slide 2 of 2)



PowerPoint 2.11 Theory to Practice: Applying Piaget’s Theory in Your Classroom

Guidelines for Applying Piaget’s Work in Classrooms

4. Provide concrete experiences that represent abstract concepts and principles.

6. Help students link the concrete representations to the abstract idea.

8. Use social interaction to help students verbalize and refine their developing understanding.

4. Design learning experiences as developmental bridges to more advanced stages of development.



PowerPoint 2.12 Learning and Development in a Cultural Context



PowerPoint 2.13 The Zone of Proximal Development



PowerPoint 2.14 Theory to Practice: Applying Vygotsky’s Work in Your Classroom

1. Embed learning activities in culturally authentic contexts.

3. Involve students in social interactions, and encourage students to use language to describe their developing understanding.

5. Create learning activities that are in learners’ zones of proximal development.

4. Provide instructional scaffolding to assist learning and development.



PowerPoint 2.15 Scaffolding Tasks in Three Zones of Proximal Development



Piaget Vygotsky

Goals How is new knowledgecreated in all cultures?

How are the tools of knowledge transmittedIn a specific culture?

Role oflanguage

Aids in developingsymbolic thought.

Does not qualitativelyraise the level of Intellectualfunctioning

Is an essential mechanism for thinking,cultural transmission and self regulation.

Qualitatively raises the level of intellectualfunctioning

Socialinteraction

Provides a way to testand validate schemes

Provides an avenue for acquiring languageAnd the cultural exchange of ideas

View oflearner

Active in manipulatingobjects and ideas

Active in social contexts and interactions

Instructionalimplications

Design experiences todisrupt equilibrium

Provide scaffolding. Guide interaction

PowerPoint 2.16 A Comparison of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s Views of Knowledge Construction



Promoting Language Development

• Encourage students to use language to describe their understanding. This is particularly true in math and science, where students tend to use less language than in other content areas. It is also an application of Vygotsky’s work.

• Remind students that struggling to put understanding into words is a normal part of learning. We’ve all said at some point: “I know what I’m trying to say, I just can’t put it into words.” The more practice students have with language, the better they will become at putting their understanding into words, and the deeper that understanding will be.

• Provide students with scaffolding as they practice. Presenting technical terms, articulating parts of definitions, and embellishing students’ descriptions are all forms of scaffolding. Then, encourage students to state the complete definition or description, including any new technical terms. Having articulated their understanding for the first time marks an advance in development and sets the stage for further learning.

PowerPoint 2.17 Promoting Language Development: Suggestions for Teachers



1. We tend to center on the $3.89 and the 39, making it look like the price is less than it actually is. The perception of $3.90 and $40 is different from the perception of $3.899 and $39.95.

2. Doing it the way we’ve always done it allows us to remain at equilibrium. Any change disrupts our equilibrium, at least to a certain extent.

5. Being at equilibrium is a lower energy state than being at disequilibrium. Research indicates that when we're at disequilibrium, we're motivated to re-establish equilibrium. Our motivation can be explained by suggesting that we want to return to our lower energy state.

PowerPoint 2.18 Feedback for Classroom Exercise (slide 1 of 3)



4. Concrete operational thinkers tend to describe the aphorisms literally, such as, “When the water isn't moving fast it is deep.” Formal operational thinkers describe it metaphorically, such as “Reflective thinkers are likely to remain quiet about their thoughts until they've carefully considered the ideas.”

5. The child is demonstrating preoperational thought. All he can see is the water and the faucet, he responds perceptually, and he concludes that all the water is in the faucet.

5. Vygotsky's work better explains the results. When the learners work in pairs, the level of social interaction is higher than in regular class instruction. Vygotsky places greater emphasis on social interaction than does Piaget.

PowerPoint 2.18 Feedback for Classroom Exercise (slide 2of 3)



2. Centration (centering) is the concept best illustrated. Andrew is centering on the perceived wealth of his friend's family and assumes that private school is a logical choice for people with money.

4. Egocentrism is the concept best illustrated. Sandy's comment, “You can't look at it that way,” indicates that she is not inclined to consider the incident from someone else's point of view. Adults, as well as children, are susceptible to barriers to logical thought. In this case Sandy is focusing on her enjoyment and views this as an appropriate expense.

9. Their thinking can best be explained on the basis of constructivism. Sydney, Bart and Joan are constructing their own understanding of the incidents based on their background experiences and the interaction involved.

PowerPoint 2.18 Classroom Exercise (slide 3of 3)