Chapter 4
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 1: PIAGET AND VYGOTSKY
CHAPTER OUTLINE
CASE STUDY: WHALE WATCHING
PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Key Ideas in Piaget’s Theory
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Current Perspectives on Piaget’s Theory
Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theory and Post-Piagetian Research
VYGOTSKY’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Key Ideas in Vygotsky’s Theory
Current Perspectives on Vygotsky’s Theory
Educational Implications of Vygotsky’s Ideas
COMPARING PIAGET AND VYGOTSKY
Common Themes
CASE STUDY: ADOLESCENT SCIENTISTS
SUMMARY
CHAPTER OUTLINE
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS &
ACTIVITIES
PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Key Ideas in Piaget’s Theory
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Current Perspectives on Piaget’s
Theory
Educational Implications of Piaget’s
Theory and Post-Piagetian Research
Transparency 4-1: Key Ideas in Piaget’s Theory
Transparency 4-2: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
Transparency 4-3: Preoperational vs. Concrete
Operational Thought
Transparency 4-4: Concrete Operational vs. Formal
Operational Thought
In-Class Activity #1: Water-Level Topic
Discussion Topics 1, 2
Merrill videos: Designing Experiments in Seventh
Grade; Double-Column Addition; Segments in
Observing Children in Classrooms video: The
Properties of Air in First-Grade Science,
Conservation
Commercial videos: Using What we Know:
Applying Piaget’s Theory in Primary Classrooms;
Adolescent Cognition: Thinking in a New Key;
Concrete Operations; Conservation; Formal
Reasoning Patterns
In-Class Activity #2: Volume Displacement Task
Cooperative Learning Activity: Develop PiagetianLike Tasks
Handout 4-3: Conservation Tasks
Instructor’s Manual - Chapter 4
VYGOTSKY’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
Key Ideas in Vygotsky’s Theory
Current Perspectives on Vygotsky’s
Theory
Educational Implications of
Vygotsky’s Ideas
65
Transparency 4-5: Key Ideas in Vygotsky’s Theory
Merrill videos: A Private Universe; Insights Into
Learning: Using Balance Beams in Fourth Grade,
Designing Experiments in Seventh Grade, Area in a
Fifth Grade Class; Observing Children in
Classrooms
Commercial videos: Play: A Vygotskian Approach;
Scaffolding Self-Directed Learning in the Primary
Grades; Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory: An
Introduction
Handout 4-1: Classroom Observation: Observing
Thinking and Reasoning Skills at Different Ages
Handout 4-2: Classroom Observation: Guidelines
for Assessing Play Activities
Individual Learning Activity: Create a Game or
Make a Toy
CASE STUDY: ADOLESCENT
SCIENTISTS
Transparencies 4-6 & 4-7: Developmental Trends:
Thinking and Reasoning Skills at Different Ages
Case Study Analyses
Simulations CD: Pendulum Experiment (see
the Multimedia Guide)
Merrill video: Designing Experiments in the Seventh
Grade
Common Student Beliefs and Misconceptions
• Some students will insist that they need to know only the characteristics of the age group at which
they will be teaching—that they don’t need to consider those characteristics within the context of
children’s overall development.
• Many students who have previously studied Piaget’s theory are likely to believe that his stages
have been unequivocally validated by research.
• Introductory Psychology textbooks tend to present an unbalanced view of cognitive development.
Piaget’s theory is often discussed to the neglect of Vygotsky’s theory and others’ theories.
• Students’ assumption that egocentrism is equivalent to “self-centeredness” is likely to interfere
with Piaget’s meaning for this term.
• If students themselves exhibit aspects of concrete operational thinking, they will have difficulty
understanding such formal operational capabilities as proportional thinking and reasoning about
contrary-to-fact ideas.
• Students may believe that Piaget’s single contribution was the identification of stages. They are
unfamiliar with his ideas about constructivism, adaptation, and so forth.
Concluding Case Study Analysis
A video and a CD simulation may be shown in conjunction with the Case Study: Adolescent Scientists at
the conclusion of Chapter 4:
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•
66
Incorporate the viewing of the video Designing Experiments in Seventh Grade into this discussion. It
shows seventh graders conducting experiments with a pendulum and Mr. Sowell providing teacher
scaffolding.
Assign use of “The Pendulum Experiment” on the Simulations in Child Development CD to students
to practice and deepen their understanding of separating and controlling variables.
The following are the questions posed at the conclusion of the Adolescent Scientists case study,
and suggested responses:
1. In what ways does Mr. Sowell scaffold the students’ efforts during the lab activity?
He asks several questions that encourage the students to revise and reconsider their findings. He
points out that they have simultaneously changed both length and weight and asks, “Why can’t you
come to a conclusion by looking at the two frequencies?”. He guides them toward identifying an
error in their reasoning and then asks, “Can you think of a way to redesign your experiments so that
you’re only changing weight?” In general, he guides them in their thinking but does not specifically
tell them the “right” answer.
2. With which one of Piaget’s stages is the students’ reasoning most consistent, and why?
Their reasoning is consistent with Piaget’s concrete operations stage, in which children have
difficulty separating and controlling variables.
3. Use one or more of Piaget’s ideas to explain why Marina persists in her belief that weight affects a
pendulum’s frequency, despite evidence to the contrary.
Marina does not notice the inconsistency between what she has observed and what she believes to
be true. In other words, she does not experience disequilibrium, and so she has no reason to
undergo accommodation.
4. Drawing on post-Piagetian research findings, identify a task for which the students might be better able
to separate and control variables.
There are many possible answers to this question. In general, children are more likely to show
formal operational reasoning with subject matter and tasks that are familiar to them.
Video & Audio Material
Simulations in Child Development CD: To better understand the role that the ability to separate and
control variables plays in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, students may conduct an experiment
with a pendulum in “The Pendulum Experiment”, one of the virtual experiments provided on this CDROM. Note that this is a hands-on simulation of the experiment Mr. Sowell’s students conducted in the
closing Case Study for Chapter 4.
Brief Description: The simulation lets students conduct virtual "experiments" with a pendulum.
They can manipulate one or more of three variables (height of release, weight, and length), and the
computer keeps an ongoing record of the oscillation rates that result. Following the student's experiment
is an explanation of the role that the ability to separate and control variables plays in Piaget's theory of
cognitive development. Implications for classroom teachers are presented. An optional "Educational
Research" track introduces basic concepts and types of educational research and presents a research
article concerning the effects of prior knowledge on children's ability to separate and control variables.
Students can print out their responses and bring them to class. See the MultiMedia Guide for more
detailed teaching instructions and information about the simulation.
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Video segments available with this text: Suggested videos for Chapter 4 include:
(Refer to the outline at the beginning of this chapter for suggestions where to incorporate these videos in your
lessons.)
Double-Column Addition: A Teacher Uses Piaget’s Theory
Portrays a second-grade classroom in which children invent and explain their own strategies for
adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. Depicts the children discussing and defending a variety of
creative strategies, many of which reflect a true conceptual understanding of place value. (This can
also be used with Chapter 5.)
Insights Into Learning: Using Balance Beams in Fourth Grade
Shows fourth-graders working with weights and balance beams to discover how to make the two
sides balance. Includes an in-depth study of several students' reasoning, including two who quickly
master the balance beam principle and two who do not.
Insights Into Learning: Designing Experiments in Seventh Grade
Shows seventh graders conducting experiments with a pendulum. Illustrates how middle school
students often confound two or more variables when testing hypotheses and how, with considerable
teacher scaffolding, they can be led to separate and control variables. Includes a transfer task as well.
Insights Into Learning: Area in a Fifth-Grade Math Class
Shows fifth graders working in small groups to determine the area of an irregular shape within the
context of an authentic activity. Includes follow-up interview with several students to determine
whether they can transfer what they've learned in the activity to new situations. (This can also be used
with Chapter 5.)
A Private Universe
Illustrates the pervasiveness of misconceptions about two scientific phenomena--the seasons of the
year and the phases of the moon--in high school students, college graduates, and Harvard University
faculty members. One ninth-grader's explanations and reasoning both before and after instruction are
portrayed in depth.
Merrill’s Observing Children in Classrooms Videos
ABCNews/Prentice Hall Child Development Videos
Commercial videos for use with this chapter:
“Play: A Vygotskian Approach” (with Deborah Leong & Elena Bodrova), 1996, 26 minutes, Davidson
Films, 888-437-4200, www.davidsonfilms.com.
Offers theoretical and practical perspectives on dramatic play. Shows sequences of four-year-olds
engaging in make-believe play. Reviews traditional ways of studying play via Freud-Erikson,
Piaget, and Vygotsky. Provides practical suggestions for fostering high-level play.
“Growing Minds: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood” (with David Elkind), 1996, 25 minutes,
Davidson Films, 888-437-4200, www.davidsonfilms.com.
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Discusses the work of Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget, showing the similarities and differences of
their contributions to our understanding of the cognitive development of young children. Dr. Elkind
uses their research and his own work to look at reasoning, visual perception and the use of
language. Children are seen both in interviews and participating in a child care center.
“Using What We Know: Applying Piaget’s Theory in Primary Classrooms” (with David Elkind), 1991,
35 minutes, Davidson Films, 888-437-4200, www.davidsonfilms.com.
Shows three successful public school classrooms: setting up an exemplary physical and
organizational environment, making curriculum decisions and assessing child growth. There is
variation in students’ socio-economic status, personalities of the teachers, and available resources
among the classrooms, but they share a commonality in their pursuit of excellence.
“How Children Learn,” 1997, 23 minutes, Davidson Films, 888-437-4200, www.davidsonfilms.com.
Summarizes what is currently known about learning from brain research, cognitive development
research, and contemporary educational practice. Designed to be used as an introduction to
discussion of school and teaching practices, this video also serves as an introduction to the study of
learning. Factors that lead to school success are presented.
“Scaffolding Self Regulated Learning in the Primary Grades” (with Deborah Leong & Elena Bodrova),
35 minutes, Davidson Films, 888-437-4200, www.davidsonfilms.com.
Provides examples of how learning can be structured so children are active learners while teachers
use their superior knowledge to meaningfully guide learning. Discusses Vygotsky’s concept of the
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Three essential elements of scaffolding are explained and
demonstrated as children in four urban classrooms become more responsible for their learning.
“Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory: An Introduction,” 1994, 28 minutes, #TY1280, Insight Media, 800233-9910, 212-721-6316.
Presents the life, vocabulary, and concepts of Lev Vygotsky. The video illustrates four basic
concepts integral to his work: Children construct knowledge, learning can lead development,
development cannot be separated from its social context, and language plays a central role in
cognitive development. Lively classroom examples enable students, teachers in training, and
classroom teachers to incorporate these concepts into their understanding of child development.
With Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong.
“Adolescent Cognition: Thinking in a New Key,” 1999, 38 minutes, Davidson Films, 888-437-4200,
www.davidsonfilms.com. (with David Elkind)
Includes footage in a public middle school and interviews, revealing the intellectual challenges of
adolescents, who are constructing personal identities and new mental capacities. Describes the
intellectual, emotional and social consequences that result from the changes in thinking.
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Transparencies
These transparencies are also available on the CD PowerPoint Slides.
Transparency 4-1: Key Ideas in Piaget’s Theory
Transparency 4-2: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development (Figure 4-1)
Transparency 4-3: Preoperational Versus Concrete Operational Thought (Table 4-1)
Transparency 4-4: Concrete Operational Versus Formal Operational Thinking (Table 4-2)
Transparency 4-5: Key Ideas in Vygotsky’s Theory
Transparency 4-6: Developmental Trends: Thinking and Reasoning Skills at Different Ages (2-6, 6-10)
Transparency 4-7: Developmental Trends: Thinking & Reasoning Skills at Different Ages (10-14, 14-18)
Handouts
These handouts are located at the end of the Instructor’s Manual.
Handout 4-1: Classroom Observation: Observing Thinking and Reasoning Skills at Different Ages
Handout 4-2: Classroom Observation: Guidelines for Assessing Young Children’s Play Activities
Handout 4-3: Conservation Tasks for Elementary Students
Discussion Topics
1. Why do children who are between ages seven and 11 perform more accurately on conservation related
tasks than preschool-age children? Or alternatively, Why is it so difficult for preoperational children
to understand conservation?
(Show Transparency 4-3 or have students turn to Table 4-1 in their texts.)
Answer: In general, cognitive and developmental psychologists believe that with increasing age,
the ability to manipulate internal images improves, which allows for attending to one facet of the
problem while simultaneously attending to other facets. Piaget would say that as children develop
they become increasingly better at organizing and integrating their thought processes.
2. Explain how a child’s cultural background can influence the age at which various task competencies
emerge.
Answer: Because of increased or decreased familiarity with a particular task (e.g., the textbook
example of Mexican children whose families involved their children in the family business of
making pottery), environment can affect when certain task competencies emerge. Ask students to
generate examples from their own lives.
3. How can teachers help their students develop a greater repertoire of problem-solving skills, critical
thinking skills, self-sufficiency, and increase their knowledge base?
(Answers may be based on concepts associated with Vygotsky, such as zone of proximal
development, scaffolding, his sociocultural theory that people and artifacts support cognitive
development, etc. Some concrete examples are reading a more difficult level of book or trying a new
book genre, completing more challenging story problems in math, and exploring solutions to
problems in science.)
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Classroom Observations
There are many tools provided in this chapter to assist students in your class with observing children’s
development in classrooms, if that opportunity arises. They may use Handouts 4-1and 4-2 in classroom
observations. They may also replicate a conservation of area task using instructions in Figure 4-6 in the
textbook. Finally, see the Cooperative Learning Activity and the “Create a Game or Make a Toy” activity
presented later in this chapter.
In-class Activity #1: Water-Level Topic
This is an activity that will allow students to examine their own cognitive processes. You will briefly
introduce it, students will participate by completing the activity quickly, and discussion will follow.
•
•
•
Hand draw two bottles (such as a plastic 1-liter cola bottle) on one 8 _” x 11” piece of paper. The
first bottle is completely horizontal (as if you tipped it over on a table it would be on its side). The
second bottle is drawn at a 45-degree angle.
Give each student a copy. Give the class the following verbal instructions: “These bottles are half
full of water. Draw the water-level line for each bottle so that the pictures illustrate that they are
half full.”
Give them a minute to complete this part of the task. Once everyone has completed marking the
water-level lines, ask them to write their gender at the top of the page. (Tell the class this after
they’ve made their marks to reduce alerting them to the possibility that there might be a gender
difference.)
If your class is typical, more men than women will mark the lines on their bottles parallel to the ground
(i.e., the water line will be horizontal to the bottom of the page whether the bottle is tipped or upright.)
This depiction reflects a basic understanding of the concept of gravity and an application of this concept,
consciously or unconsciously, in their drawing of their water lines. (For research on the gender
differences in the performance of such tasks, see Robert & Chaperon, 1989; Thomas, Jamison, &
Hummel, 1973; Wittig & Allen, 1984.)
•
Collect the papers or show students an example of a drawing with the water lines horizontal to the
floor and ask students to raise their hands if they drew their water lines the same way. Then see if
there are percentage differences between the way in which the men and women within the class
performed these tasks—e.g., 70% of the men drew their lines horizontal to the bottom of their papers,
while only 50% of the women did.
•
Discuss with your class why this difference exists. Even if your class does not demonstrate a
difference, you can explain that a difference usually does exist and then ask the class to discuss why.
Why are men more likely in this instance to incorporate the concept of gravity into their pictures and
to produce a more accurate depiction of how this phenomenon occurs in the real world? The
discussion should address such issues as the different types of environmental influences (e.g., video
games) that men and women tend to be exposed to. Have the class tie their discussion back to
Piaget’s concepts of adaptation, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.
•
Two references you can share with your students include:
Halpern, D. F. (2000). Sex differences in cognitive abilities (3rd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1995). The adapted mind: Evolutionary
psychology and the generation of culture. New York: Oxford University Press. See chapter
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titled: Sex Differences in Spatial Abilities: Evolutionary Theory and Data. Includes examples
of female superiority on certain types of tasks as well as male superiority on certain types of
tasks.
In-class Activity #2: Carl Berger’s (1976) research titled: A Piagetian Like Task Considering the
Double Variables of Mass and Volume by Preservice and Inservice Elementary School Science
Teachers
First Volume Displacement Task
Materials: Two metal rods of equal volume, but different weight
Previous studies used rods that weighed 18 grams and 55 grams, but were equal in height and thickness.
Two graduated cylinders (a container that’s marked with divisions or units of measurement) partially
filled with equal amounts of water. You might try contacting faculty in the science department to borrow
the equipment.
Procedure: If you can gather enough materials, have the students form pairs or small groups. If
this isn’t possible you can ask for five volunteers and have them wait outside the classroom, conducting
the experiment with one volunteer at a time.
Instructions to the participant(s): Take the lighter of the two rods and place it in one of the
cylinders; note the measurement of the water level. Ask the participant(s), “If you were to place the
heavier rod in the second cylinder of water will the water level:
a) rise higher than the cylinder with the lighter rod?
b) rise to the same level as the cylinder with the lighter rod?
c) rise, but not quite as high as the cylinder with the lighter rod?”
Next, ask the participant to explain his/her answer.
Blake, Lawson, and Nordland (1974) described this task as an accurate test of formal operations
as the participants are required to do the following:
a) think abstractly about the concept of water displacement,
b) eliminate a contradiction (differing rod weights, but same water level),
c) focus attention on more than one feature (i.e. differing weights,
principles of volume displacement
Berger (1976) conducted this experiment with 82 pre-service teachers (students) enrolled in a
Methods of Elementary School Science class and 33 in-service teachers who had at least three years of
elementary school teaching experience. See the table below for the results.
Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers’ Explanations Denoted by Either Volume or Weight
Volume Response
Weight Response
Pre-Service Teachers n=82
80%
20%
In-Service Teachers n=33
67%
34%
Surprisingly, the experienced teachers performed worse than the teachers in training, however, when data
was gathered on the participants’ explanations, Berger discovered that some of the participants who
responded correctly exhibited reasoning errors in their explanations.
Second Volume Displacement Task
Materials: Three graduated cylinders with equal amounts of water; three marbles with the
following characteristics:
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1) large glass marble weighing 18.5 grams
2) large steel marble weighing 66 grams, but the same volume as the
glass marble
3) small steel marble weighing 18.5 grams, the same weight as the glass
marble, but less volume than both the glass marble and the large steel
marble
Procedure: Show the participants all three marbles and describe their physical characteristics.
Allow the participants to handle the marbles if they choose. Place the large glass marble into the first
cylinder and have the participants note the water level. Ask the participant(s), “If you were to place the
large steel marble in the second cylinder of water what will the water level be? Explain your answer: Is
the volume or the weight the reason for the water level measurement prediction? And if you were to place
the small steel marble in the third cylinder of water what will the water level be? Explain your answer: Is
the volume or the weight the reason for the water level measurement prediction?”
Berger (1976) conducted this experiment with 519 Pre-service and In-service teachers. See the
table below for the results.
Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers’ Explanations Denoted by Either Volume or Weight
Pre-Service Teachers
(n = 310)
Type of explanation
given for large steel
marble
Volume (correct)
Weight (incorrect)
Volume (correct)
Weight (incorrect)
Type of explanation
given for small steel
marble
Volume (correct)
Weight (incorrect)
Weight (incorrect)
Volume (correct)
72%
17%
7%
3%
In-Service Teachers
(n = 209)
70%
12%
11%
3%
The marble and water task has an advantage over the water and rod task in that this task adds a response
consistency component. In this experiment there wasn’t a significant different in explanations between
pre-service and in-service teachers. While the majority of the participants exhibited correct reasoning, it is
noteworthy that a considerable number of participants are having difficulty with cognitive reasoning
processes in which individuals in the formal operational stage are expected to demonstrate competency.
When Berger conducted his experiments most of the participants in the marble-water task
demanded to see for themselves what the water level measurements would be with each marble. This
post-experiment discussion would provide an excellent opportunity for your students to apply Piaget’s
principles of accommodation, assimilation, and equilibration.
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Cooperative Learning Activity: Develop Piagetian-Like Tasks
Group students according to the age group or grades they are going to teach and then further break
them up into groups of four or five unless, of course, your students are homogenous and then you can
simply divide them into small groups.
• Have them create original Piagetian type tasks appropriate for the age group they are going to
teach. For example, if the grade they are preparing to teach will consist of children who are
learning to master concrete operations, they might expand upon Piaget’s conservation of length
task in which he used sticks by identifying a different type of material (i.e., a garden hose is the
same length regardless of being stretched out or coiled). For formal operations they might
consider evaluating word puzzles or using mystery-solving vignettes. Types of conservation
include:
1. Conservation of number
2. Conservation of substance
3. Conservation of length
4. Conservation or distance
5. Conservation of area
6. Conservation of volume
7. Conservation of height, weight
•
•
•
In advance, make available a variety of conservation resources from which they can choose to do
their research. See the reference list, Chapter 4 Web Links on the Companion Website
(www.prenhall.com/mcdevitt), and/or show the Conservation interview segment on the Merrill
Observing Children in Classrooms video.
As a variation of this activity, give each group of students Handout 4-3, Conservation Tasks for
Elementary Students, to use with children in an elementary classroom. Students could choose
several of the 7 tasks presented, conduct task analysis and interviews with children, and write a
report on their observations. Alternatively, as an in-class activity, this handout could be used to
show examples of conservation tasks, and then students could create their own conservation
tasks.
Consider publishing their responses on a class website.
Individual Learning Activity: Create a Game or Make a Toy
Neysmith-Roy (1994) designed the Make a Toy project to enable students to develop a higher level of
understanding of children’s psychological and physical needs. This activity is a good alternative to
experiential-based activities if students do not have an opportunity to interact directly with children. (It
could also easily be worked on by a small group of students or in pairs, thus making it a cooperative
learning activity.) The assignment and some variations on it are described below.
• Students are expected to construct an age-appropriate toy from scratch for a child between the
ages of newborn and four-years-old.
• Remind students to consider the children’s developmental abilities (i.e. physical, cognitive,
social, linguistic) for the age they are targeting.
• To include students who plan to work with older children and adolescents, ask them to design a
game (i.e. card game, board game, physical activity game) that is age-appropriate and takes into
account the children’s developmental abilities.
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Variations include:
• Students identify and analyze a commercially recognized toy or game (i.e. Pokemon, Junior
Scrabble, checkers, capture the flag, Kings in a Corner card game, Uno, Connect Four, Candy
Land, Dressy Bessy doll, plastic house and family people, blocks, computer games, etc.).
• Students teach a child a new game using Vygotsky’s principles of scaffolding and zone of
proximal development. For example, students could teach four children how to play the
Kings in a Corner card game, which includes elements of counting, seriation, patterning,
organization, combining, turn-taking, etc. Within several sessions, the four children should be
able to play the game with minimal help from their instructor.
•
The second component of this activity is a writing assignment. Students should include the
following information and analysis:
a) identify the targeted age group or grade
b) analyze the toy’s positive and negative characteristics for children of the targeted age
(including safety issues)
c) describe how the toy is age appropriate; how it should contribute to the child's cognitive,
emotional, and physical development; and explain why
d) convince the reader that Vygotsky would agree that your particular toy would contribute to
children mastering increasingly complex cognitive processing skills
Additional Resources for Instructor and Students
Books & Articles
Acredolo, C. (1997). Understanding Piaget's new theory requires assimilation and accommodation. Human
Development, 40, (4) 235-237. ERIC Journal Document # EJ554466
Anderson, J. (1990). Cognitive psychology and its implications. (3rd ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
Baillargeon, R., DeVos, T., & Graber, M. (1989). Location memory in 8-month-old infants in a non-search
AB task: Further evidence. Cognitive Development, 4, 345-367.
Berger, C. (1976). A Piagetian like task considering the double variables of mass and volume by preservice and
inservice elementary school science teachers. Paper presented at the meeting of The National Association for
Research in Science Teaching. [See Companion Website, Ch. 4 Web Links, for Internet access]
Bjork, E. L., & Cummings, E. M. (1984). Infant search errors: Stage of concept development or stage of memory
development. Memory and Cognition, 12, 1-19.
Blake, A., Lawson, A. E., & Nordland, F. H. (1974). Piagetian tasks clarified: The use of metal cylinders.
American Biology Teacher, 36.
Brainerd, C. (1978). Piaget's theory of Intelligence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Brown, A.L., & Kane, M. J. (1988). Preschool children can learn to transfer: Learning to learn and learning by
example. Cognitive Psychology, 20, 493-523.
Bybee, R.W. & Sund, R.B. (1982). Piaget for educators (2nd Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Crain, W. (1980). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
De Lisi, R., Parameswaran, G., & McGillicuddy-De Lisi, A. (1989). Age and sex differences in representation of
horizontality among children in India. Perceptual and Motor Skills 739-746.
Diamond, A. (1988). Abilities and neural mechanisms underlying AB performance. Child Development, 59, 523527.(The B in AB has a line over it in the title and in the article meaning "A not B.")
Flavell, J. H. (1963). The developmental psychology of Jean Piaget. NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Gallagher, J.M. & Reid, D.K. (1981). The learning theory of Piaget and Inhelder. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Ginsburg, H. 1979. Piaget’s theory of intellectual development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Ginsberg, H., & Opper, S. (1988). Piaget’s theory of intellectual development (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
Gratch, G. (1976). On levels of awareness of objects in infants and students thereof. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 22,
157-176.
Holbrook, J. E. (1992). Bringing Piaget’s preoperational thought to the minds of adults: A classroom demonstration.
Teaching of Psychology, 19, (3), 169-170.
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Inhelder, B. & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York: Basic
Books.
Kalichman (1989). The effects of stimulus context on paper-and-pencil spatial task performance. Journal of General
Psychology, 116, 133-139.
Kamii, C. K. 1985. Young children reinvent arithmetic: Implications of Piaget’s theory. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Neysmith-Roy, J. M. (1994). Constructing toys to integrate knowledge about child development. Teaching of
Psychology, 21, (2) 101-103.
Piaget, J. (1929). The child’s conception of the world. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. NY: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich.
Piaget, J. (1952). The language and thought of the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul LTD.
Piaget, J. (1961). The child’s conception of number. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul LTD.
Piaget, J. (1969). The mechanisms of perception. London: Rutledge & Kegan Paul.
Piaget, J. (1970). The science of education and the psychology of the child. NY: Grossman.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1956). The child’s conception of space. London: Routledge Kegan Paul.
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. NY: Basic Books.
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1973). Memory and intelligence. NY: Basic Books.
Renner, J. W., & Lawson, A. E. (1973). Piagetian theory and instruction in physics. Physics Teacher, 11, 165.
Robert, M. (1989). Robustness of cognitive gender differences: The case of horizontality representations in the
water-level task. Paper presented at the Tenth Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of
Behavioural Development, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Robert, M., & Chaperon, H. (1989). Cognitive and exemplary modeling of horizontality representation on the
Piagetian water-level task. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 12, 453-472.
Sophian, C. (1984). Developing search skills in infancy and early childhood. In C. Sophian (Ed.), Origins of
cognitive skills. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Sund, R. B. (1976). Piaget for educators. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
Thomas, H., Jamison, W., & Hummel, D. D. (1973). Observation is insufficient for discovering that the surface of
still water is invariantly horizontal. Science, 181, 173-174.
Vacha-Haase (1996). A child panel to facilitate the instruction of child development. Teaching of Psychology, 23,
(3) 170-171.
Wadsworth, B. (1978). Piaget for the classroom teacher. NY: Longman.
Wittig, M. A., & Allen, M. J. (1984). Measurement of adult performance on Piaget’s water horizontality task.
Intelligence, 8, 305-313.
Other resources, by topic:
1. Classification: Grouping according to similar characteristics (i.e., shape, color, type); Inhelder and
Piaget’s class inclusion problems demonstrate that preoperational children have difficulty
understanding hierarchical classification.
Bigler, R. S. (1995). The role of classification skill in moderating environmental influences on children's gender
stereotyping: A study of the functional use of gender in the classroom. Child Development, 66(4) 1072-1087.
ERIC Journal Document # EJ510559
Dimcovic, N., & Tobin, M. J. (1995). The use of language in simple classification tasks by children who are blind.
Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 89(5) 448-459. ERIC Journal Document # EJ511865
Garrett, K. N., Busby, R. F., & Pasnak, R. (1999). Cognitive gains from extended play at classification and seriation.
Journal of Research and Development in Education, 32, (4) 257-263. ERIC Journal Document # EJ598234
Gelman, S. A. (1998). Categories in young children's thinking: Research in review. Young Children, 53 , (1) 20-26.
ERIC Journal Document #: EJ564367
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1964). The early growth of logic in the child. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Malabonga, V., Pasnak, R., & Lacy, S. (1995). Cognitive gains for kindergartners instructed in seriation and
classification. Child Study Journal, 25, (2) 79-96. ERIC Journal Document # EJ510641
Mandler, J. M., Bauer, P.J., & McDonough, L. (1991). Separating the sheep from the goats: Differentiating global
categories. Cognitive Psychology, 23, 263-298.
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76
Mervis, C. B., & Crisafi, M. A. (1982). Order of acquisition of subordinate-, basic-, and superordinate-level
categories. Child Development, 53, 258-266.
Müller, U., Sokol, B., & Overton, W. F. (1999). Developmental sequences in class reasoning and propositional
reasoning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 74, (2) 69-106.
Namy, L. L., Smith, L. B., & Gershkoff-Stowe, L. (1997). Young children's discovery of spatial classification.
Cognitive Development, 12, (2) 163-184. ERIC Journal Document # EJ550962
Thomas, H. (1995). Modeling class inclusion strategies. Developmental Psychology, 31, (2) 170-179. ERIC Journal
Document # EJ503574
2. Seriation: Arranging objects in a logical progression
Garrett, K. N., Busby, R. F., & Pasnak, R. (1999). Cognitive gains from extended play at classification and
seriation. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 32, (4) 257-263. ERIC Journal Document #
EJ598234
Southard, M., & Pasnak, R. (1997). Effects of maturation on preoperational seriation. Child Study Journal, 27, (4)
255-268. ERIC Journal Document # EJ561696
Tomic, W., & Kingma, J. (1996). On the relation between seriation and number line comprehension: A validation
study. ERIC Document # ED400977
2. Transitive Inference: Inferring the relationship between two pieces of evidence by knowing their
respective relationships to a third
Artman, L., & Cahan, S. (1993). Schooling and the development of transitive inference. Developmental
Psychology, 29, (4) 753-759. ERIC Journal Document # EJ467527
Bryant, P.E., & Trabasso, T. (1971). Transitive inferences and memory in young children. Nature, 232, 457-459.
Halford, G. S. (1984). Can young children integrate premises in transitivity and serial order tasks? Cognitive
Psychology, 16, 65-93.
Markovits, H., Dumas, C. & Malfait, N. (1995). Understanding transitivity of a spatial relationship: A
developmental analysis. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 59, (1) 124-141. ERIC Journal Document
# EJ499990
Rabinowitz, F. M., Grant, M. J., Howe, M. L., & Walsh, C. (1994). Reasoning in middle childhood: A dynamic
model of performance on transitivity tasks. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 58, (2) 252 - 288.
ERIC Journal Document #: EJ493484
Riley, C. a., & Trabasso, T. (1974). Comparatives, logical structures, and encoding in a transitive inference task.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 45, 972-977.
4. Transductive Reasoning: Reasoning from a specific instance to another specific instance rather than
reasoning from a specific instance to a general instance or a general instance to a specific instance;
Piagetian term for a type of reasoning exhibited by preoperational children
Elkind, D. (1998). Educating Young Children in Math, Science, and Technology. Paper presented at the Forum on
Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education ERIC Document # ED416993
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Handout 4-1
Classroom Observation: Observing Thinking and Reasoning Skills at Different Ages
Take the opportunity during various classroom observations (of various grades) to look for evidence that either
supports or contradicts Piaget's and Vygotsky's theoretical principles. First, observe children exhibiting the
characteristics described in the table below. Then, record how old they are. Third, describe the context in which you
observed them and provide concrete examples of these characteristics. (What are they doing or saying that reflect
the characteristics you see in the left-hand column?) Finally, state what these characteristics imply for teachers; what
specific things can teachers do in the classroom to meet the students where they are cognitively and help them
advance in their thinking and reasoning skills?
What you Might
Observe
•
Rapidly developing
language skills
•
Thinking that, by adult
standards, is illogical
•
Limited perspectivetaking ability
•
•
Frequent self-talk
Sociodramatic play
•
Little understanding of
how adults typically
interpret events
•
Display some forms of
adult logic, such as the
ability to classify
multiple objects
simultaneously or the
ability to draw logical
inferences from given
facts
•
Can explain their
reasoning about
something
•
Play group games or
on teams; follow rules
•
Ability to participate in
adult activities, such as
converse with adults or
attend events adults
attend (perhaps
peripherally)
Limited ability to
reason about abstract
ideas
Emerging ability to
•
•
Age
Examples
Implications for Teaching
Instructor’s Manual - Chapter 4
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
reason about abstract
ideas
Increasing scientific
reasoning abilities
(e.g., formulating and
testing hypotheses,
separating and
controlling variables)
Emerging ability to
reason about
mathematical
proportions
Emerging idealism
about political/social
issues, but often
unrealistically
Increasing ability to
engage in adult tasks
Abstract thought and
scientific reasoning
skills in some content
areas
Idealistic notions
accompanied by more
realistic considerations
Are able to understand
or articulate multiple
perspectives on an
issue
Ability to perform
many tasks in an
adultlike manner
Other notes or observations:
78
Instructor’s Manual - Chapter 4
79
Handout 4-2
Classroom Observation: Guidelines for Assessing Play Activities
Observe a group of children playing. Use the behaviors described in the left-hand column to guide your observations. In the
Example column, describe the context in which you observed these behaviors and provide concrete examples of them. (What
behaviors or words reflect the characteristics you see in the left-hand column?) Also indicate the child’s approximate age or
grade in the Example column. Finally, state what these characteristics imply for teachers; what specific things can teachers do
in the classroom or on the playground to help them learn?
Look For
• Extent to which children play
with one another
• Extent to which children in a
play group coordinate play
activities
• Extent to which children use
one object to stand for
another
• Extent to which children
incorporate imaginary objects
into their play
• Extent to which children
display behaviors that reflect a
particular role
• Extent to which children use
language (e.g., tone of voice,
specific words and phrases)
associated with a particular
person or role.
• Extent to which children
coordinate and act out multiple
roles within the context of a
complex play scenario.
Example
Implications for Teaching
Instructor’s Manual - Chapter 4
80
Handout 4-3
Conservation Tasks for Elementary Students
Conservation Task
Height
Start State of Object
Measure the height of a
cardboard picture of a person.
For simplicity make sure the
person is an even number of
feet, say 4ft., so the child can
reach it. Ask the child how
many feet tall the person is.
Weight
Materials: 20 LEGO pieces all
the same size and same color
for sake of simplicity. Scale.
Make two identical formations
out of 10 LEGOS each and
weigh them.
Materials: Two tubes of two
different liquids that won’t
combine when mixed until
you shake it. The liquid should
separate again after a period of
rest. Use different food
coloring to dye the liquids so
they may be differentiated
easily.
Materials: 2 sections of
newspaper each exactly the
same size. Crumple one up.
Liquid
Mass
Mass
Materials: OREO cookies.
Show two identical OREO
cookies.
Number
Materials: 20 Toy soldiers.
Line up the toy soldiers, 10 on
each side, in the same
formation facing each other.
Number
Materials: 20 wooden blocks
Transformation of Object
Ask the child to now measure
the person in inches. Ask the
child if the person’s height is
the same despite being 4ft. tall
and 48” tall. Then ask the
child to recall the two
measurements. Has the child’s
height changed? Has the child
grown taller/shorter?
Take one LEGO formation
and separate all the pieces and
ask the child if the formations
will still weigh the same.
Ask the child if there’s still the
same amount of colored liquid
in the tube that’s shaken as
there is in the tube that’s at
rest.
Ask the child if there’s still the
same amount of newspaper in
the crumpled one as the
straight one.
Separate one OREO cookie
into two halves and ask child
if there is still the same
amount of cookie.
Spread out one group of
soldiers and ask child if one
group has more soldiers than
the other group.
Stack the blocks vertically in
two groups of 10 each and ask
child if you were to scatter one
stack of blocks all over the
floor if there would be the
same amount of blocks as the
stacked pile