Chapter 2 Questions to Consider

Chapter 2

(2.1) One of the most cited theories of human development is that of Swiss biologist Jean

Piaget. After reading about Piaget’s basic assumptions (p. 27-32) look with particular attention

at the stage of child development you would like to teach. The other most cited theory of

human development belongs to Russian developmentalist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky’s theory of

cognitive development leads us to expect greater diversity among our same-aged students than

Piaget. Given these two influential theorists’ ideas on cognitive development, how might you

accommodate students who are not yet working at the level of their peers?

According to Piaget my students would most likely be performing at the Concrete operational stage of development. Some basic assumptions of the concrete operational stage are... For the students who are not functioning on this level, it is safe to say that they would either be in the preoperational stage or the formal operational stage. In order to accommodate all of these stages, its important to implement a multi-leveled lesson plan.  This type of plan allows for children who are functioning on different cognitive levels to be able to learn from the lesson.  For example, in a spelling lesson I would give the students a series of letters to make words.  There will be students who can only spell short words but there will also be those students who can make longer words. This type of lesson in geared towards the different stages of cognitive development.  This type of lesson also accounts for Vygotsky's assumption of instructor aided learning. 

(2) Theories in educational psychology promote the idea that language plays a critical role in

cognitive development. Examine Table 2.2 (p. 51), paying particular attention to the age range

that you are interested in teaching. Consider how you might incorporate or adapt the strategies

presented for use with your own students. 

I will be teaching mostly k-2.  I think that having read-alouds are good for building their vocabulary.  Whenever we do read-alouds we would read books that are age-appropriate.  These books use words that they know but also have new words.  I can use these new words to expand on their vocabulary.  Read-alouds also allow the children to work on their attention skills.  This is important for them because it helps them to process what is being read to them and aids in retention of new vocabulary.