Deck 7: C: Cognitive Processes and Academic Skills

Question 1

What are some common reasons why young children sometimes fail to solve problems because of poor planning?

Answer 1

A good answer will include the following key points:
∙ Young children often believe (unrealistically) that they can solve a problem by boldly forging ahead, without an explicit plan.
∙ Planning is hard work and if young children find that their plans often fail, they may see little point in investing the effort.
∙ Young children may expect parents and other adults to solve complex problems for them.

Question 2

Recently, you took your nephew, Jamie, to a local fast food restaurant. When you took Jamie home, he told his mother, "We drove to Wendy's, we got out of the car, we stood in line, I got a Kid's Meal with chicken nuggets and milk, and I got a cool toy, too." Jamie's recall of the visit to Wendy's was mostly correct but Wendy's was out of milk so Jamie got a soft drink instead. What can you tell Jamie's mother about scripts and how they can influence memory that might explain Jamie's incorrect memory of his lunch?

Answer 2

A good answer will be similar to the following:
Scripts are memory structures that help describe the sequence of events. Jamie obviously has a script for going to a fast food restaurant. Jamie's script includes eating chicken nuggets and drinking milk. Scripts can simplify remembering because they eliminate the need to remember each individual activity. However, a script can distort memories that are not consistent with one's script. Drinking a soft drink for lunch at a fast food restaurant is not consistent with Jamie's script for the event so he incorrectly "remembered" information that was consistent with his script.

Question 3

Your friend Jason is a concerned father and he would like to do all that he can to help his four-year-old daughter, Gay, learn to read. What can you tell Jason about prereading skills that are related to more skilled reading in first grade?

Answer 3

A good answer will be similar to the following:
Kindergarten children who know most of their letters and who can easily distinguish the sounds that the different letters make are more skilled readers later on. Jason can help Gay master these skills by playing games with her that involve identifying the letters of the alphabet. Jason also can read books, such as Dr. Seuss or nursery rhymes, that contain rhymes that will increase her phonological awareness. Playing word games that involve identifying different letter sounds in words also will increase Gay's phonological awareness.

Question 4

You are having a discussion with a friend about the differences in math achievement in children in the United States and children in Asian countries. During your discussion, your friend states, "It must be genetic. Or maybe Asian kids are just smarter than American kids." What can you tell your friend about the reasons for cultural differences in math achievement that refute his statement?

Question 5

Describe some of the virtues and drawbacks of collaboration with young children.

Question 6

You are teaching grade four science to a group of 9- and 10-year-old students. What can you expect from them with regards to the scientific method, and are there things that you, as the teacher, can do to help your students improve their scientific reasoning?

Question 7

Explain what is meant by a memory strategy and discuss how memory strategy use changes with age.

Question 8

What are some factors that contribute to improved reading comprehension?

Question 9

Name and briefly describe the three basic principles of counting.

Question 10

Define a "heuristic" and give an example of when it might be used to solve a problem.

Question 11

Your friends have a three-month-old son, Zack. Two weeks ago, when Zack was at your house he had been interested in kicking at a ball that makes noise when it rolls. Yesterday when Zack was at your house, he kicked at the ball again as if he remembered moving the ball and hearing its noise. When you pointed out this "memory" to Zack's parents, they said that "everyone knows that babies don't have any memories." What can you tell your friends about memory in infants that might change their minds?

Question 12

What are some common features of children's and adolescents' problem solving?

Question 13

Your uncle is a prosecuting attorney who is considering using a young child as a witness in an upcoming trial, but he is concerned about the reliability of a child's testimony. What suggestions could you give him about how to improve the likelihood that his child witness's testimony will accurately reflect what he actually saw?

Question 14

Your brother, Pretesh, is concerned that his two-year-old daughter's counting ability is well below average. When she counts, his daughter will say, "one, two, c, door...door balls" when counting the four balls in a picture book. What can you tell Pretesh about the mastery of the principles of counting that will reassure him that his daughter's counting ability is fine?

Question 15

Your friend's son, Hasani, is in grade one and has been writing a story every Monday in school. Your friend is concerned about Hasani's writing because she thinks that his stories aren't very good. They often have no organization and seem very incomplete. What can you tell your friend about the changes in writing ability that might make her feel better?

Question 16

Briefly describe Brainerd and Reyna's fuzzy trace theory and the results of their research on it.

Question 17

Memory strategies are techniques or activities that improve remembering. Name and briefly discuss different memory strategies that people use.

Question 18

Shining Time Station is a favourite television show of your three-year-old niece, Sunmi. The stories on this show revolve around the antics of more than a dozen toy trains. Each train has a name and a number. Your brother is shocked one day when Sunmi told him the name and number associated with each train on the show. Your brother is amazed because to him Thomas looks like James, he's never noticed any numbers on the trains, and Sunmi's memory in other areas does not seem to be extraordinary. What can you tell your brother about how knowledge influences memory that might help explain Sunmi's memory?