Question 1

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?

Accepted Answer

A)  How are an apple and a blueberry alike? 
B)  If you have 8 Macintosh apples and 2 Golden Delicious apples, then do you have more Macintoshes or more apples? 
C)  An apple pie is cut into 4 pieces. A blueberry pie of the same size is cut into 12 pieces. How many pieces of blueberry pie do you need to have the same amount as 3 pieces of the apple pie? 
D)  If we have one row of blueberries spread like so: o o o o o o and another row of blueberries spread like so: o o o o o o
Then does one row have more blueberries than the other?

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

A)  It helps them get things they want. 
B)  It gives them a means for symbolically thinking about objects and events. 
C)  It takes up much of their mental energy and so helps to keep them from being easily distracted. 
D)  It enhances their self-efficacy, because they are now aware that they can communicate effectively with other human beings.

Question 3

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.

Accepted Answer

A)  object directed 
B)  person centered 
C)  goal directed 
D)  pleasure seeking

Question 4

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:

Accepted Answer

A)  Is in a state of equilibrium 
B)  Is in her zone of proximal development for numerical tasks 
C)  Can assimilate diverse mathematical tasks into a single mega-scheme 
D)  Has a central conceptual structure for numbers

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

A)  A second-grade teacher encourages students to 1) speculate about possible explanations regarding why kites of different shapes fly differently and then 2) test each explanation systematically. 
B)  A ninth-grade science uses a three-dimensional model of the solar system to illustrate her explanation of why it's warmer in summer than in winter. 
C)  When a high school student claims that people should "Make love, not war," his teacher urges him to consider whether such an approach would have been advisable when the Fascist movement was gaining ground in Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s. 
D)  When 7-year-old Martin says that two nickels are worth more than one dime because there are two of them and they're bigger, his teacher asks, "How can that be? Two nickels are worth ten cents, and one dime is also worth ten cents."
Essay Questions

Question 6

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:

Accepted Answer

A)  egocentrism 
B)  conservation 
C)  use of schemes 
D)  compartmentalization

Question 7

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?

Accepted Answer

A)  Bobby's learning is delayed because he does not know 500 words. 
B)  Bobby's current understanding of language builds upon his previous basic learning of language from the sensorimotor stage. 
C)  Bobby will be delayed in entering the concrete operational stage because at age 3 he should be able to participate in conversations with other children. 
D)  Bobby does not have object permanence.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Younger students haven't attained conservation. 
B)  Younger students haven't acquired proportional reasoning. 
C)  Younger students can't learn complex equations. 
D)  Younger students don't know their math facts well enough.

Question 9

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Making sure students always remain in equilibrium 
B)  Providing some structure to guide students' explorations 
C)  Providing an abstract overview of the discovery session ahead of time 
D)  Encouraging students to interpret their observations in ways that confirm their initial expectations

Question 10

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Formal instruction can have a significant impact on children's cognitive development. 
B)  Incomplete brain maturation limits how much children at any particular age can do. 
C)  Through their everyday experiences, children learn some of the basic patterns in their environment even without intentionally trying to do so. 
D)  Cognitive development is better characterized as a series of seven rather than four) general stages.

Question 11

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Students benefit from inquiry learning activities only when they're given total control over the topic to study and how to study it. 
B)  Inquiry learning activities require students to use various reasoning processes to examine the phenomena under investigation. 
C)  Inquiry learning activities can be effective even when they involve "experimentation" with virtual "objects" in a computer program. 
D)  Inquiry learning activities can create a heavy cognitive load, which exceeds children's working memory capacities.

Question 12

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:

Accepted Answer

A)  Experiencing disequilibrium 
B)  Having difficulty with conservation 
C)  Having difficulty with class inclusion 
D)  Accommodating when he should be assimilating

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Isabelle pushes a classmate off the swing so that she can use it. 
B)  Edward tries not to cry when his mother drops him off on the first day of kindergarten. 
C)  Richard actively manipulates a new toy to find out what it does. 
D)  Laura asks herself, "Hmm, where did I put my social studies book?"

Question 14

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

Accepted Answer

A)  A child assimilates without accommodating. 
B)  A child doesn't encounter any new or challenging ideas. 
C)  A child revises existing schemes to better understand new phenomenon. 
D)  A child has difficulty explaining new events using existing schemes.

Question 15

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:

Accepted Answer

A)  equilibration 
B)  class inclusion 
C)  the clinical method 
D)  reciprocal teaching

Question 16

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

Accepted Answer

A)  formal operations 
B)  preoperational 
C)  concrete operations 
D)  sensorimotor

Question 17

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.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Mr. Gallagher shows a group of children...

Question 18

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Two children work together on a crossword puzzle that includes the week's new spelling words. 
B)  A teenage boy worries that his friends might think he's a "nerd" if he refuses a can of beer at a party. 
C)  The students in a cooperative learning group debate different ways of solving a difficult math problem. 
D)  Two students help each other prepare for a quiz by giving each other practice test questions.

Question 19

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?

Accepted Answer

A)  Piaget studied children rather than nonhuman species. 
B)  Piaget's ideas were incompatible with behaviorist theory. 
C)  Most of Piaget's writings were in French. 
D)  Piaget used research methods that were unconventional in the eyes of American psychologists.

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

A)  Children are naturally disposed to think about their environment in particular ways; in a sense, some basic knowledge about the world is "pre-wired." 
B)  Children actively construct their own view of the world from their experiences with the environment. 
C)  Children repeatedly parrot their parents' and teachers' beliefs, eventually internalizing these beliefs as their own "knowledge." 
D)  Initially, children unconsciously develop a rather complex and confused view of the world, but this view becomes simpler and more straightforward as time goes on.

Exam 10: Cognitive Developmental Perspectives