Module 47 REVIEW

• 47-1 From the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers, how does a child’s mind develop?

• In his theory of cognitive development, Jean Piaget proposed that children actively construct and modify their understanding of the world through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. They form schemas that help them organize their experiences.
• Progressing from the simplicity of the sensorimotor stage of the first two years, in which they develop object permanence, children move to more complex ways of thinking.
• In the preoperational stage (about age 2 to about 6 or 7), they develop a theory of mind, but they are egocentric and are unable to perform simple logical operations.
• By age 7, they enter the concrete operational stage and are able to comprehend the principle of conservation.
• By age 12, children enter the formal operational stage and can reason systematically.
• Research supports the sequence Piaget proposed, but it also shows that young children are more capable, and their development is more continuous, than he believed.
• Lev Vygotsky’s studies of child development focused on the ways a child’s mind grows by interacting with the social environment. In his view, parents and caretakers provide what we now call temporary scaffolds enabling children to step to higher levels of learning.

• 47-2 What is autism spectrum disorder, and how does it affect development?

• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a disorder marked by social deficiencies and repetitive behaviors.
• Genetic influences, abnormal brain development, and the prenatal environment—especially when altered by infection, drugs, or hormones—likely contribute to ASD.
• An impaired theory of mind makes it difficult for those with ASD to understand others’ point of view.
• People with ASD experience different severities of the disorder. Some function at a high level, while others struggle to use language.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Your friend’s baby brother, Matt, loves to play with his pet cat. When he sees a puppy, he points and calls it “Mi Mi,” which is what he calls his cat. Matt is demonstrating Piaget’s process of
   1. conservation.
   2. accommodation.
   3. cognition.
   4. object permanence.
   5. assimilation.
2. If you showed a 2-year-old a model of her bedroom where you’d hidden a toy behind the bed, she would
   1. understand that the model represented her room, but not be able to find the toy in her own room.
   2. exhibit schematic thinking and be able to explain the study back to you.
   3. be unable to find the toy in her room due to a lack of symbolic thinking.
   4. understand that the model represented her room, and be able to find the toy in her own room.
   5. misunderstand the instructions due to her lack of theory of mind.
3. Vygotsky called the space between what a child could learn with and without help the
   1. theory of mind.
   2. zone of abstract logic.
   3. zone of abstract reasoning.
   4. zone of proximal development.
   5. zone of developmental readiness.
4. Which of the following is a current belief of researchers that differs from Piaget’s original theories?
   1. Infants simply have less information about the world than older children and adults.
   2. Object permanence develops earlier than Piaget believed.
   3. Infants learn more by verbal explanations than Piaget believed.
   4. Accommodation is a process that doesn’t occur in young children.
   5. Schemas don’t form until later than Piaget believed.
5. Which of the following cognitive abilities is possible only at the formal operational stage?
   1. Reversing arithmetic operations
   2. Using a theory of mind to predict the behavior of others
   3. Using hypothetical situations as the basis of moral reasoning
   4. Using symbolic thinking for pretend play
   5. Understanding basic physics to recognize impossible situations
6. A 4-year-old child comes into the room and tells her parent, “I broke it” without feeling the need to tell her parent what is broken because
   1. the child lacks an understanding of conservation.
   2. the child is afraid of being punished.
   3. the child’s cannot remember what was broken.
   4. the child has assimilated the object into her memory.
   5. the child is egocentric.
7. Which of the following would indicate that a child understands conservation?
   1. She would continue to seek a toy hidden under a blanket.
   2. She would “hide” in a game of hide-and-seek by covering her eyes with her hands.
   3. She would believe that a clay snake would have the same amount of clay as the clay ball that was used to make it.
   4. She would recognize that 7 + 3 involves the same mathematical relationship as 10 – 7.
   5. She would be able to comprehend the logic of if-then statements.

Practice FRQs

1. Describe how Lev Vygotsky viewed the role of the following in a child’s cognitive development:
   • Language
   • Scaffolding (modern-day term)
   • Zone of proximal development

   How did his theory differ from that of Jean Piaget?

Answer

1 point: Vygotsky believed that as children grow, they increasingly use words to solve problems and think. Adults help with this process by giving them words to internalize behaviors. Page 504

1 point: Scaffolding is the way in which parents and others provide a framework that offers children temporary support as they move to higher levels of cognitive development. Page 503

1 point: The zone of proximal development describes the space between what a child could learn with and without help. Page 503

1 point: The major difference is that Piaget thought cognitive development resulted from children’s interactions with their physical environment, while Vygotsky believed they learned through social interactions. Page 503

2. Give an example of each of the cognitive milestones listed below:
   • Object permanence
   • Conservation
   • Theory of mind

(3 points)