Exam 10: Cognitive Developmental Perspectives

If we look at cognitive development from Piaget's perspective, we would expect a child in the concrete operations stage to have the greatest difficulty with which one of the following questions?

From Piaget's perspective, why is language critical for children's cognitive development?

James is 6 months old. He likes the feel of his thumb in his mouth; therefore, whenever his thumb comes close to his face he places in thumb in his mouth. James' action is characteristic of ______________ behavior, which dominates the sensorimotor stage.

As Valerie grows older, she becomes increasingly proficient in a variety of tasks involving numerical reasoning, including counting, adding and subtracting, and comparing two-digit numbers. From a neo-Piagetian perspective, Valerie's simultaneous progress in these diverse areas reflects the idea that she:

Three of the following teaching practices are consistent with Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Which one is not?

In her first trip to a zoo, 7-year-old Latisha notices that leopards have paws very similar in shape to her cat Snowball's paws. She also notices that leopards walk in much the same way that Snowball does. Latisha starts to wonder if perhaps leopards are cats. Latisha's thinking illustrates Piaget's idea that thought is characterized by:

Bobby is 3 years old and in the pre-operational state. He is speaking in complete sentences and picking up on the grammar of his native language. Which is the following statement is consistent with Piaget's theory?

From Piaget's perspective, why might it be wise to postpone the teaching of complex fractions until middle school or high school?

Which one of the following strategies is most likely to help students learn from a discovery learning activity?

Three of the following statements are consistent with neo-Piagetian perspectives of cognitive development. Which statement is not?

Three of the following statements are true about inquiry learning as an instructional strategy. Which statement is false?

As a first-grade teacher reads a book about penguins in Antarctica, she points to Antarctica on a globe. Six-year-old John seems really puzzled. "How come they don't fall off the earth?" he asks. From Piaget's perspective, John can best be described as:

Which one of the following examples best illustrates symbolic thought as Piaget described it?

Which one of the following best describes Piaget's notion of equilibration?

Dr. Bauer asks 9-year-old Anne to divide a pitcher of lemonade equally between two glasses, one each for her and her friend Kate. The two glasses are different shapes, with Anne's being tall and thin and Kate's being short and wide. After Anne pours the lemonade, Dr. Bauer says to her, "Look, the lemonade in your glass is higher than the lemonade in Kate's glass. Did you give yourself more than you gave Kate?" "No," Anne replies, "my glass is skinnier." Dr. Bauer continues to ask Anne questions to determine how well she understands that height compensates for width in this situation. Dr. Bauer's strategy can best be described as illustrating:

Olivia understands why ³/₅ and ⁹/₁₅ are equivalent fractions. Based on this information, Olivia is probably in Piaget's _______ stage of development.

Mr. Gallagher shows a group of children two candy bars. All children agree that the two bars have the same amount of candy. Then Mr. Gallagher breaks one candy bar into small pieces. At this point, some of the children still claim that the two candy bars one whole and one broken) have the same amount of candy. Other children, however, claim that the broken bar has more candy. Using a Piagetian framework, Mr. Gallagher concludes that the children are in two different stages of cognitive development. Which stages are the two groups of children in? Justify your decision.

Which one of the following best illustrates how sociocognitive conflict might promote cognitive development?

Piaget's ideas were largely ignored by American psychologists until the 1960s. Three of the following are probable reasons why this was so. Which one is not a likely reason?

Which one of the following statements best describes Piaget's view of how children acquire knowledge about the world?