Deck 6: Cognitive Development: Piaget and Vygotsky

Question 1

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:

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

Answer 1

A

Question 2

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:

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

Answer 2

C

Question 3

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

A) A child assimilates without accommodating.
B) A child accommodates without assimilating.
C) A child doesn't encounter any new or challenging ideas.
D) A child revises existing schemes to incorporate new information.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

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

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.

Question 5

Piaget's view of cognitive development can best be described as:

A) A decreasing number of schemes over time
B) Changes in the brain that result in increasingly rapid learning
C) Discrete stages in which distinctly different forms of logical thought emerge
D) A gradual and steady progression of intellectual capabilities over the course of childhood and adolescence

Question 6

Which one of the following best illustrates Piaget's concept of accommodation?

A) Anne copies down what her teacher writes on the blackboard.
B) Betsy is given 10 more addition problems when she does the first 10 carelessly.
C) Carol revises her understanding of what clouds are like when she studies them in science.
D) Donna copies her biology textbook's definitions of various classes of invertebrates (sponges, flatworms, mollusks, etc.) word for word in her notebook.

Question 7

Which one of the following statements best describes the idea that cognitive development involves a process of construction?

A) Children must know simple things very well before they can begin to understand other, more complex things.
B) Children must learn ideas in a concrete form before learning them as abstractions.
C) Children pull together pieces of information about a topic to create their own understandings.
D) Children's thought processes become increasingly complex and sophisticated as they grow older.

Question 8

From Piaget's perspective, children are:

A) Eager to interact with and make sense of their world
B) Most likely to learn things that bring about desirable consequences
C) Most likely to learn when parents and teachers entice them to do so
D) More likely to develop cognitively in a formal school setting than at home

Question 9

In Piaget's theory, a scheme can best be described as:

A) An organized group of similar thoughts or actions
B) A set of motor skills that preschoolers develop
C) A lifestyle or family pattern
D) A mental picture of oneself

Question 10

Louis receives a new soccer ball and begins to dribble it in the same way he dribbles his basketball. His dribbling of the new ball reflects Piaget's concept of:

A) Concrete operations
B) Accommodation
C) Equilibration
D) Assimilation

Question 11

Five-year-old Becky is playing with blocks, stacking them one on top of another until her towers eventually tumble, and then stacking them again. Which one of the following best reflects Piaget's view of how Becky is probably learning in this situation?

A) Because she is probably still in the sensorimotor stage, she will remember what she learns about the blocks only while the blocks are still in front of her.
B) She is absorbing information about how the environment behaves (e.g., "objects fall") without consciously thinking about it.
C) She is actively thinking about and interpreting the results of her actions.
D) Because she builds one tower after another, she is obviously reinforced by seeing her towers tumble down.

Question 12

Which one of the following clearly illustrates Piaget's concept of assimilation?

A) Five-year-old Harvey draws on the chalkboard with a large white crayon instead of with chalk.
B) Eight-year-old Rachel develops the necessary eye-hand coordination for writing letters in cursive.
C) Eleven-year-old Mary Lou moves to a different school and purchases new clothes to fit the local fashions.
D) A language arts teacher asks 13-year-old Reynold to think about possible adjectives other than awesome that he might use in his writing to describe interesting and enjoyable activities.

Question 13

Mr. Johnson teaches a class of twenty 7- and 8-year-old second graders. His goal for the upcoming school year is to help at least 50% of his students reach formal operations. From the perspective of Piaget's theory, we would expect that Mr. Johnson's goal is:

A) An easy one to attain
B) Almost impossible to attain
C) Attainable only if he emphasizes abstract reasoning throughout the school year
D) Attainable only if his students have had enriching educational experiences throughout infancy and early childhood

Question 14

Mr. Remick 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, Mr. Remick 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." Mr. Remick continues to ask Anne questions to determine how well she understands that height compensates for width in this situation. Mr. Remick's strategy can best be described as illustrating:

A) Equilibration
B) Class inclusion
C) Reciprocal teaching
D) The clinical method

Question 15

Which of the following is not a concept described by Piaget?

A) Scheme
B) Accommodation
C) Assimilation
D) Zone of proximal development

Question 16

Larger systems of mental processes are known as:

A) Schemes
B) Operations
C) Scripts
D) Constructive processes

Question 17

Which one of the following teachers is definitely keeping in mind Piaget's idea that assimilation and accommodation are both necessary for cognitive development?

A) Mr. Ames presents brand new topics every day, expecting the continual novelty to keep students interested and motivated.
B) Ms. Baretta makes sure that students have learned one topic very, very well before moving on to another.
C) Mr. Chang shows students how a new topic is similar to the things they already know but also different in certain ways.
D) Ms. Doherty uses a lot of drill and practice exercises, encouraging students to work faster every time.

Question 18

According to Piaget, three of the following are essential for cognitive development. Which one is not?

A) Brain maturation
B) High self-esteem
C) Interaction with other people
D) Interaction with the physical environment

Question 19

From Piaget's perspective, social interactions are most likely to promote cognitive development when:

A) Children share and explain different points of view
B) Adults continually remind children that "adults know best"
C) Every child in a group confidently asserts his or her beliefs
D) Adults initially agree with any erroneously statements that children may make

Question 20

The processes of assimilation and accommodation both involve:

A) Concrete operational thought
B) Relating new information to prior knowledge
C) Abstract thought processes such as inductive reasoning
D) Oral communication skills

Question 21

Carl can correctly answer a question such as, "If all flegs are blats, and if all blats are dulms, are all flegs also dulms?" From Piaget's perspective, Carl is most likely in the _______ stage of cognitive development.

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

Question 22

In describing the cognitive abilities of infants, Piaget appears to have:

A) Underestimated what they know and can do
B) Overestimated what they know and can do
C) Assessed their abilities quite accurately
D) Overestimated the importance of language in their early thinking

Question 23

Choose the statement below that most accurately reflects recent research findings concerning Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

A) The order in which various logical thinking capabilities emerge is consistent with the sequence that Piaget proposed.
B) The egocentrism associated with the preoperational stage continues to be common even in the upper elementary grades.
C) Concrete operational thinking abilities, such as conservation and class inclusion, develop later than Piaget believed.
D) Formal operational thinking abilities, such as the ability to think and reason about abstract and hypothetical ideas, begin to emerge in the preschool years.

Question 24

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

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 gives them a better self-image, because they are now aware that they can communicate effectively with other human beings.

Question 25

Which one of the following examples best illustrates symbolic thought?

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 26

As Valerie grows older, she becomes increasingly proficient in a variety of tasks involving spatial reasoning, including drawing three-dimensional figures, solving geometry problems, and predicting where balls are apt to go when she hits them in a tennis game. From a neo-Piagetian perspective, Valerie's simultaneous progress in these diverse areas suggests that she:

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

Question 27

Which one of the following statements reflects a concern about the separation and control of variables?

A) "How do you think I should make amends with Martha? If I tell her I'm sorry, she might think I'm lying."
B) "I'm catching more tadpoles today, but I don't know if it's because I'm using a larger container to catch them or because I'm working in a different part of the frog pond."
C) "I have two tests to study for tonight-science and Spanish. I'll study one subject before dinner and the other one after dinner so I don't get them confused."
D) "I'm trying to learn how to do a lay-up shot. Can you show me all the things I should do, going one step at a time?"

Question 28

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?

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 29

Which one of the following examples best illustrates Piaget's concept of object permanence?

A) Two-year-old Jasmine looks for a favorite toy her father has just hidden in a box.
B) Six-year-old Lucas thinks that his recently deceased grandfather is still alive.
C) Ten-year-old Margaret glues the pieces of a vase she has just broken, claiming that she'll make it look "good as new."
D) Fifteen-year-old Kenneth finally understands his geometry teacher's statement that two parallel lines might go on forever without ever touching.

Question 30

James is talking about how much better the world would be if everyone just agreed to love everyone else. In Piaget's view, James is most likely to be

A) 4 years old
B) 7 years old
C) 10 years old
D) 14 years old

Question 31

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

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

Question 32

The following four junior high school science teachers are teaching the concept molecule to their students. In each classroom, some of the students are frequently using formal operational reasoning, whereas others are consistently using concrete operational reasoning. In which classroom are the concrete operational thinkers most likely to have difficulty understanding?

A) Mr. Armani lets students touch and manipulate concrete models of various molecules.
B) Mr. Bendetti lets students look at the same concrete models that Mr. Armani has used.
C) Mr. Carmen verbally describes how different elements are made up of different numbers of neutrons, protons, and electrons.
D) Mr. Davidson has students role-play being neutrons, protons, and electrons. The "neutron" and "proton" students huddle together in the middle of the room, and the "electrons" move around them.

Question 33

Piaget spoke of egocentrism as a characteristic of preoperational thought. Three of the following are examples of egocentrism as Piaget defined it. Which one is not?

A) Justin is constantly grabbing objects and pulling them toward himself.
B) Lois tells a story as if her listeners already know many details they can't possibly know.
C) Kate cannot relate to the question, "How do you think Molly feels?"
D) Frank and Isabel are playing checkers without realizing that each of them is playing by different rules.

Question 34

Which one of the following conclusions can be derived from recent research regarding Piaget's theory of cognitive development?

A) Middle school and secondary school students typically have an easier time thinking logically in the social sciences than they do in the physical and life sciences.
B) Youngsters will think more logically about a topic when they have acquired relevant knowledge and experiences related to the topic.
C) Many young people continue to show signs of preoperational thinking until well into the high school years.
D) Youngsters have an easier time understanding fractions and proportions in adolescence if such concepts are first introduced at the same time that division is introduced (e.g., in third grade).

Question 35

When neo-Piagetian theorists suggest that working memory capacity increases with age, they mean that as children get older, they:

A) Become increasingly aware of their own thoughts
B) Acquire more sophisticated logical thought processes
C) Can simultaneously think about more things at a single time
D) Gain a wealth of information about a wide variety of topics, especially at school

Question 36

Piaget's sensorimotor stage is characterized by:

A) The beginnings of conservation
B) Basic schemes for dealing with abstract ideas
C) Schemes based primarily on perceptions and behaviors
D) Inaccurate mental representations of the physical and biological world

Question 37

Which one of the following would Piaget be least likely to advocate for elementary school children?

A) Discussions with classmates
B) Field trips to hands-on science museums
C) Laboratory-type experiences with physical objects
D) Lectures that describe interesting scientific facts

Question 38

Imagine that you are a third-grade teacher. If you were to make predictions based on Piaget's stages of cognitive development, you would expect most or all of your students to exhibit _______ thinking.

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

Question 39

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

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

Question 40

Roger is shown two piles of sand and says that each pile has the same amount. However, when one pile is flattened with a shovel, Roger now claims emphatically that the flattened pile has less sand. Based on this information, Roger is probably in Piaget's _______ stage of development.

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

Question 41

After explaining what sines and cosines are, a high school math teacher shows students how they might use these concepts in constructing a large building. Which one of the following principles does this scenario best illustrate?

A) Over time, self-talk gradually evolves into inner speech.
B) Thought and language become increasingly interdependent with age.
C) Acquiring the cognitive tools of one's culture enables youngsters to live and work more effectively.
D) Children function more effectively when they work at their actual (rather than potential) developmental levels.

Question 42

Xavier loves to write poetry. Often he uses techniques that his favorite poets use, but typically he modifies these techniques to better suit his own style. This situation illustrates which one of the following concepts in Vygotsky's theory?

A) Appropriation
B) Mediated learning
C) Actual developmental level
D) Level of potential development

Question 43

Vygotsky's concept of zone of proximal development refers to:

A) Children's ability to estimate how much they know
B) The range of tasks children can perform by themselves
C) The range of tasks children can accomplish only with support
D) The degree of maturation necessary to accomplish complex physical tasks

Question 44

Which one of the following is the best example of a cognitive tool?

A) Use of natural lighting in a studio art class
B) A jigsaw in a woodworking class
C) Use of country-western music in a step-aerobics class
D) The concept of pi (π) in a geometry class

Question 45

Vygotsky proposed that thought and language are:

A) Closely connected at all stages of life
B) Largely independent before age two but closely connected thereafter
C) Closely connected early in life and become increasingly independent with age
D) Largely independent until the elementary school years and closely connected thereafter

Question 46

In Vygotsky's view, opportunities to engage in pretend play (e.g., playing "house" or "doctor") have which one of the following effects?

A) They foster traditional gender stereotypes.
B) They allow children to practice adult behaviors.
C) They can help children shed their egocentric views of the world.
D) They are highly enjoyable but have little impact on cognitive development.

Question 47

Which one of the following children is definitely working in his or her zone of proximal development?

A) Arnold uses correct grammar and punctuation when he writes short stories.
B) Berta is beginning to learn basic woodworking techniques. She has trouble hammering a nail straight into a piece of wood unless her teacher stands beside her, helping her and reminding her of what to do.
C) Calvin is playing the clarinet in the band. He finds that he can more easily keep the appropriate tempo if he taps the beat with his foot.
D) Doreen finds it virtually impossible to solve mathematical word problems, even when her teacher gives her helpful hints.

Question 48

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

A) A ninth-grade science teacher uses a three-dimensional model of the solar system to illustrate her explanation of why it's warmer in summer than in winter.
B) A second-grade teacher encourages students to speculate about possible explanations as to why kites of different shapes fly differently and then test each explanation systematically.
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 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."

Question 49

Which one of the following statements most accurately describes Lev Vygotsky's view of how cognitive development occurs?

A) Children's cognitive growth is best judged on the basis of their actual developmental level, not on the basis of their level of potential development.
B) Cognitive development progresses through four distinct stages; each stage is characterized by increasingly more complex thought and language.
C) Children develop by working on challenging tasks with the assistance of more competent individuals.
D) Language and thought, although closely intertwined in the first few years of life, become increasingly distinct entities over time.

Question 50

As a high school music teacher plays a recording of Ferde Grofé's symphony Grand Canyon Suite for his class, he asks his students to visualize scenes that Grofé tried to capture with music: a sunrise over the Grand Canyon, a burro ride down a winding trail, a thunderstorm, and so on. From a Vygotskian perspective, this lesson could best be described as:

A) Guided participation
B) A mediated learning experience
C) A lesson at students' actual developmental level
D) A lesson at students' level of potential development

Question 51

Which one of the following scenarios best reflects the basic idea of social constructivism?

A) Two students discuss possible interpretations of the proverb A stitch in time saves nine.
B) A teacher assigns a laboratory activity using cumbersome equipment that students can only use successfully by working in pairs.
C) When a student borrows a classmate's marker without asking and then forgets to put the cap back on, leaving it dried out and useless by the following morning, her teacher reminds her of one of the class rules: Respect other students' property.
D) Four students in a study group divide the day's reading assignment into four sections. Each student reads a section and then teaches the material to the other group members.

Question 52

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

A) Making sure children always remain in equilibrium
B) Having some prior knowledge about the material being explored
C) Having an abstract overview of the discovery session ahead of time
D) Having freedom to explore one's environment without any structure or restraint

Question 53

Which one of the following statements best describes Vygotsky's concept of internalization?

A) As children grow older, they develop an increasing ability to think about events in abstract rather than concrete terms.
B) With age, children acquire more sophisticated problem-solving skills, largely because their parents and teachers give them increasingly challenging problems to tackle.
C) Over time, children acquire more self-confidence about their ability to deal with the world.
D) Through their social interactions with other people, children acquire ways of mentally approaching and thinking about a task.

Question 54

Three of the following teaching strategies should help students benefit from a discovery learning activity. Which strategy is least likely to be helpful?

A) Mr. Azama makes sure students have some knowledge about triangles, including the concepts of base and height, and then provides an exercise through which the students discover for themselves the formula for calculating a triangle's area.
B) Ms. Berkowitz asks students to write down their discoveries about what happens to a chemical solution when they heat it.
C) Ms. Clift gives students several guidelines to follow as they conduct a physics experiment.
D) Mr. DiCicco takes his students to the site of a Civil War battle and says, "OK, look around and see what you can find that might be of interest to your peers."

Question 55

From Vygotsky's perspective, what important role does inner speech play?

A) By giving themselves directions about what to do next, children guide themselves through complex tasks.
B) By using words mentally as well as orally, children develop more abstract representations of the world.
C) By practicing various grammatical structures mentally, children acquire more complex language capabilities.
D) By talking to themselves about what they should have done or said in a particular situation, children remember the situation more vividly.

Question 56

Which one of the following best describes a mediated learning experience?

A) Two children argue about which of two alternative viewpoints is "right" and which is "wrong."
B) A teacher gives students lots of practice with various athletic skills.
C) A parent promises a reward for good behavior.
D) An adult helps a child make sense of a new situation.

Question 57

Central to Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development is the idea that children make sense of their world:

A) Through the mental processes of assimilation and accommodation
B) By repeatedly encountering both pleasant and unpleasant events in their daily lives
C) Through their independent explorations of their physical and social environments
D) By interacting with more experienced people who mediate their understandings

Question 58

Students in a fourth-grade reading group are reading a passage about snakes. Their teacher asks, "Who can think of a good title that summarizes what this passage is about?" After hearing several good suggestions, the teacher says, "The author says that snakes are helpful to farmers. What evidence does she give to support her statement?" If we consider Vygotsky's concept of internalization, we might predict that such a discussion will:

A) Be more beneficial for students who are working outside their zones of proximal development than for students working within their ZPDs.
B) Help students develop a greater interest in learning for its own sake.
C) Be confusing and counterproductive for students who are not yet capable of abstract thought.
D) Help students acquire effective reading comprehension strategies (e.g., summarizing, looking for supporting statements).

Question 59

If you were to criticize Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development in a way that contemporary theorists sometimes do, which one of the following would you be most likely to say?

A) "It's a bit vague in its explanations of how development occurs."
B) "It ignores the effects that formal education has on cognitive development."
C) "It disregards the important roles that peers play in children's development."
D) "It places heavy emphasis on drill and practice as factors promoting development."

Question 60

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

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

Question 61

Which one of the following teachers is using reciprocal teaching?

A) Mr. Armando has students work in pairs to test one another's knowledge about a topic.
B) Working with a small group, Mr. Bromley gives each student a chance to ask questions of his or her classmates regarding a section of text they are all reading.
C) When students ask questions about things they don't understand, Ms. Cromwell asks if others can answer those questions before answering them herself.
D) Before a test, Ms. Dievers has each student describe the strategies he or she plans to use while studying.

Question 62

Cathleen is having trouble learning the steps involved in using a microscope correctly. If you consider Vygotsky's description of how children help themselves get through difficult tasks, you should suggest that Cathleen:

A) Talk herself through the steps
B) Learn the reasons why each step is important
C) Practice each step separately many times over
D) Go through the procedure in slow motion a few times

Question 63

From a Vygotskian perspective, scaffolding serves what purpose in instruction?

A) It gives children an idea of what they need to do to get good grades.
B) It keeps school tasks within children's actual developmental levels.
C) It lets children learn by watching one another.
D) It supports children as they perform difficult tasks.

Question 64

Nine-year-old Ricky has recently learned how to solve long division problems, and he still struggles with especially difficult problems. At his mother's request, he helps his eight-year-old sister Lucy with the simple long division problems she must do for her math homework. From the perspective of Vygotsky's theory, which one of the following is most likely to result?

A) Ricky's own long division skills will improve because he is more motivated.
B) Ricky will gain nothing from helping his sister because doing long division is outside his zone of proximal development.
C) Ricky's own long division skills will decrease, because any mistakes that Lucy makes will "corrupt" his own mathematical thinking.
D) By helping Lucy with her long division problems, Ricky will be able to practice using the central conceptual structure that underlies his mathematical thinking.

Question 65

If you were interested in how a child's culture influences cognitive development, you would be most likely to consider _______ approach to cognitive development.

A) Piaget's
B) Vygotsky's
C) neo-Piagetian theorists'
D) information processing theorists'

Question 66

Imagine that you want to improve middle school students' ability to learn information from their textbooks. Considering research results described in the textbook, which technique would you be most likely to use?

A) Discovery learning
B) Authentic activities
C) Reciprocal teaching
D) Drill-and-practice exercises using flashcards of new vocabulary words

Question 67

Which one of the following is the best example of an authentic activity?

A) Listing four different kinds of sedimentary rocks
B) Discussing reasons why World War I occurred
C) Putting definitions of new terms in your own words
D) Designing a bridge using principles of physics

Question 68

Sociocultural theory suggests that with development, children acquire many cognitive tools of their culture. Which teacher is most clearly applying this idea?

A) Mr. Shaw reminds his students that he will let them go to lunch only after they've put away their art supplies.
B) Ms. Turiel shows students how to graph their research results so that they can more easily see trends in the data.
C) Ms. Norquist smiles to show her approval when students listen quietly and politely during a guest speaker's visit.
D) Mr. Cabot demonstrates how to use a Bunsen burner safely.

Question 69

Choose a particular grade level and discuss three important implications of Piaget's theory for teaching students at this grade level. State your three points both in abstract terms and in terms of specific educational practices you would employ.

Question 70

Ms. Killian and her fourth graders have been growing sunflowers under various conditions-they have grown sunflowers in different kinds of soil, with different amounts of water, and in varying degrees of sunlight. Below are four statements that Ms. Killian makes related to the sunflowers. Which one is most consistent with the idea of a cognitive apprenticeship?

A) "Who can tell me what photosynthesis is?"
B) "How many of you have grown sunflowers at home? How many of you have moms or dads who are gardeners?"
C) "This sunflower is taller than that sunflower over there. Let's consider what the growing conditions for the two flowers have been and try to figure out what might have led to the difference we see."
D) "Elaine, please give each plant the same amount of water today that you gave it yesterday. Also, be sure that you keep each plant in the same location, so that the amount of sunlight it gets stays the same."

Question 71

Describe at least three ways in which youngsters in Piaget's formal operations stage are likely to think differently from those in the concrete operations stage. Illustrate each characteristic with a concrete example of how youngsters in each of the two stages might think or act.

Question 72

Ms. Villanueva has her students engage in a variety of activities in her middle school geography class. Three of the activities described below are authentic activities. Which one is not an authentic activity as educators typically use the term?

A) Describing the difference between latitude and longitude
B) Finding the most direct route to Chicago on a road map
C) Constructing a map of the neighborhood around the school
D) Using library resources to identify a good place to take a vacation

Question 73

Write a single paragraph that describes the process of cognitive development according to Piaget. Use all the following concepts in your answer in such a way that each concept's meaning is clear: accommodation, assimilation, disequilibrium, equilibration, equilibrium, schemes.

Question 74

Mr. Davis asks his third graders to conduct experiments to examine the effects of water, sunlight, and type of soil on growing sunflowers. He tells them, "I want you to find out which of these three things-water, sunlight, and soil-affect how well sunflowers grow. Here are lots of sunflower seeds, lots of paper cups to grow them in, and two different types of soil. You can give your growing plants plenty of sunlight by putting them on the shelf by the window, or you can grow them in a shadier place on the bookshelf behind my desk. And here's a measuring cup you can use to measure the amount of water you give them each day."
Mr. Davis is assuming his third graders can do at least two things that, from Piaget's perspective, they probably cannot do. What two crucial abilities necessary for conducting appropriate experiments do his students probably not yet have? Justify your answer in a short paragraph.

Question 75

Leonard is teaching Sally how to play a new card game. During the first time through the game, Leonard looks at Sally's cards and helps her decide how to play them at each turn. As Sally becomes more familiar with the game's rules and strategies, Leonard gives her fewer hints and less assistance. This scenario best illustrates:

A) Scaffolding
B) Equilibration
C) Disequilibrium
D) Social constructivism

Question 76

Which concept reflects the general idea that challenge is important for cognitive development?

A) ZPD
B) inner speech
C) conservation
D) central conceptual structure

Question 77

Three of the following teachers are using scaffolding to help their students learn. Which one is not necessarily providing scaffolding?

A) Ms. Applegate gives her students a structure to follow when they write their first essay.
B) Mr. Bernardo teaches a backhand tennis swing by gently guiding each student through the correct movement a few times.
C) Ms. Chen gives her class some hints about how to solve an especially difficult word problem.
D) Mr. Donaldson takes his students on a field trip to a local history museum.

Question 78

Which one of the following examples most clearly illustrates a cognitive apprenticeship?

A) A middle school physical education teacher puts her students in pairs as they practice their forward and backward rolls. She asks the students in each pair to observe each other and give each other feedback about how to improve.
B) An elementary school teacher gives his students lots of practice doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems so that they will be able to solve word problems more effectively later in the school year.
C) In a high school chemistry lab, a teacher clearly describes the steps that she expects her students to take as they conduct the day's laboratory experiment. She also lists the things that students should do when they clean up after the experiment.
D) A junior high school English class is reading Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." At the end of each verse, the teacher describes the visual images and feelings that the poem evokes for him, and he encourages his students to do likewise.

Question 79

Several parents who are making costumes for an elementary school play ask the young cast members to assist them with such tasks as cutting fabric, pinning pieces together, and sewing simple hems. Using the language of Vygotskian theorists, we can say that the parents are:

A) Engaging the students in guided participation
B) Presenting tasks that exceed the students' zone of proximal development
C) Encouraging the separation of thought and language
D) Creating a cognitive apprenticeship

Question 80

Which one of the following issues reflects a fundamental difference between Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories of cognitive development?

A) Whether challenging tasks promote cognitive development
B) Whether social interactions are important for cognitive development
C) How much children depend on adult guidance to make cognitive gains
D) Whether or not children construct their own understandings of the world