PPR, PPR Texes 160 Exam

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development - ANSWER-Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, developed a theory of how cognition develops and changes over time. Four Stages of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development - ANSWER-Piaget proposed that a child's intellect progresses through four stages: 1) Sensorimotor (0-2) 2) Preoperational (2-7) 3) Concrete operational (7-11) 4) Formal operational (11-adulthood) How does Piaget think kids learn? - ANSWER-Children learn through active interaction and manipulation of the environment. What do Piaget's stages mean? - ANSWER-The stage the child is in determines how they see the world. Piaget believed that all students pass through the stages in order and cannot skip any stage. Schemes - ANSWER-Mental patterns that guide behavior; cognitive structures that help children process and organize information to make sense of the environment. Assimilation - ANSWER-Understanding new experiences in terms of existing schemes. Accommodation - ANSWER-Modifying existing schemes to fit new situations in the environment. Adaptation - ANSWER-The process of adjusting schemes in response to the environment through assimilation or accommodation. According to Piaget, this is how learning occurs. Equilibration - ANSWER-The process of restoring balance between present understanding and new experiences. According to Piaget, learning depends on this process so it is important for teachers to confront students with new experiences or data to advance their cognitive development. Disequilibrium - ANSWER-An imbalance between what a child understands and what the child encounters through new experiences. Sensorimotor Stage - ANSWER-The earliest stage (0-2) of cognitive development during which infants learn about the environment by using their senses and motor skills. Children develop object permanence and progress from reflexive behavior to goal-directed behavior. Object Permanence - ANSWER-The fact that objects are physically stable and exist even when the objects are not in the child's physical presence. This enables the child to start using symbols to represent things in their minds so they can think about them. Preoperational Stage - ANSWER-The second stage (2-7) of cognitive development in which children learn to represent things in their mind. During this stage students develop the ability to use symbols to represent objects in the world. Thinking remains egocentric and centered. Egocentric - ANSWER-Believing that everyone sees the world as you do. Conservation - ANSWER-The concept that certain properties of an object remain the same regardless of changes in other properties. Centration - ANSWER-Paying attention to only one aspect of an object or situation; what is commonly called tunnel vision. Reversibility - ANSWER-The ability to perform a mental operation and then reverse thinking to return to the starting point. Class Inclusion - ANSWER-The ability to think simultaneously about a whole class of objects and about relationships among subordinate classes; a framework for thinking. Concrete Operational Stage - ANSWER-The third stage (7-11) of cognitive development in which children develop the capacity for logical reasoning and understanding of conservation but can use skills only in dealing with familiar situations. New abilities include operations that are reversible. Thinking is decentered, allowing them to understand that others may have different perceptions, and problem solving is less restricted by egocentrism. Abstract thinking is not possible. Formal Operational - ANSWER-The fourth stage of cognitive development (11-adulthood) in which abstract and symbolic thought is possible. Problems can be solved through the use of experimentation and critical thinking. Inferred Reality - ANSWER-The ability to understand stimuli in the context of relevant information. Preschoolers see what they see with little ability to infer the meaning behind what they see. Students in the concrete operational stage respond to inferred reality and see things in the context of other meanings. Seriation - ANSWER-Arranging objects in sequential order according to one aspect. Seriation involves arranging things in a logical progression. Transivity - ANSWER-A skill learned during the concrete operational stage in which children can mentally arrange and compare objects. Inversion - ANSWER-A mental transformation that requires reversible thinking.