Theory Assignment #3: Child Lab Observation Name: _Julia Gleason _______

Child Development 210 Sister Eagar

Please answer the following questions on Piaget and sociocultural constructs. Observe how these
constructs can then be applied to early childhood education by finding examples in the BYUI Child Lab.

1.Piaget taught that children are so imaginative because they have magical thinking and can mentally
represent things symbolically. Give two examples of how a child in the preschool is representing
something symbolically in their play, from 3 to 5 years?s

4&5 years: One girl asked to play safari with the teacher. She then said they needed walkies
talkies. She went in the tent while the teacher stayed out of it on the walkie talkie. The girl said
the tent’s “wheels” were broken and asked how to make them “unbroken.” Then she used blocks
to create a device to fix them.
4&5 years: Two girls got put in their fairy wings and wanted to know where to play fairies. The
teacher pointed out the caste and they continued to play fairies in the castle.
Here are some reminders:

18 months: They tote and carry objects; can’t represent an object as a symbol of something else.
Working on motor skills. Imitate things in real life. Example: Hold a phone like their mother does.

2 years: They flexibly use objects as different symbols. Example: Use a banana as a telephone.
Play is less self-centered. Good time to introduce stuffed animals and miniature furniture.

3 years: Children become more detached participants. Play is silly and doesn’t associate with a
set story line. Dual representation emerges: relationships between model toys and real life. Time to
introduce a dollhouse and little people.

4 & 5 years: Complex dual representation emerges. Children assign roles and act out more
complex role playing in a familiar script like playing doggies and kittens, building a zoo for different types
of animals, making connective blocks into transformers or robots and having the robots fly around the
city and protect or destroy a tower. Children develop roles and story lines through their play.

2. While observing in the BYUI Child Lab give two examples of children demonstrating preoperational
thought and reasoning:

Centration: One boy wanted to play blocks, but the other boy wouldn’t let him (egocentrism). He
kept trying to take the blocks because he was so focused on playing with them. He would stop
and play with a plane for just a second, but very distractedly until the boy finally let him play
with the blocks as well.
Egocentrism: After he can in from outside and washed his hands, a boy went to a place that I
think was a sand box. He asked multiple times very loudly “who wants to play with me” while
no one was around. They were all washing their hands and playing in different parts of the room,
but the boy thought they were all listening and would love to play with him.
Reminders:

a. Centration: Characteristic of preoperational thought in which a child focuses on one idea –

excluding all others. Example: A young child may focus on a physical characteristic or they see their
doctor ONLY as a doctor and not also as a mother.

b. Focus on Appearance: focuses on one attribute. Example: When a child’s uncle shaves off his
beard, the niece doesn’t think it’s still her uncle.

c. Static Learning: Thinking what is now will be forever be like that. That is has been and always
will be this it is now. Example: When a young child is watching TV and left the room and came back and
don’t understand why the TV didn’t stop for them.

d. Irreversibility: Nothing can be undone. Unable to recognize something can be restored.

Example: A child won’t eat a sandwich even though you took the lettuce off that they didn’t want.

e. Animism: Natural objects and phenomena are alive. Example: A child thinks their beanie
babies are alive.

f. Conservation: Amount of a substance remains the same when appearance changes. Example:
When you have 2 different glasses, a small and fat one and a tall skinny one. You put the same amount
of juice in two glasses, but one looks taller differently due to shape of glass.

3. Give one example of a specific learning activity in the BYUI child lab that seemed to be based on
Piaget’s ideas on how children learn. Explain why you think this activity is based on the theoretical
principles of Piaget.

During the time I was there, the art center seemed to be a place for the children to use their
development and motor skills unguided by an adult. Of course, one was watching nearby, but the
girl that went to play there just used her own skills to paint. She would dip the sponges in paint
all by herself. At one point she held up two different sponges and shrugged as she decided witch
sponge to use. Then she continued painting on her own.
4. Give one example of a specific learning activity in the BYUI child lab that seemed to be based on
Vygotsky’s ideas on how children learn. Explain why you think this activity is based on the theoretical
principles of Vygotsky.

While the children were playing with blocks, the teacher showed them how using guided
participation. She would ask questions like “where is the circle block” of “what do you think we
should do?” She also helped the boy being left out that wanted to play with blocks learn how to
nicely ask the other boy to play. She sat on the ground with the children and used the blocks as
well.

Reminders: Theoretical Assumptions Behind Teaching Methods in Early Childhood Education

Piaget Cognitive Theorist: Development Drives Learning

 How do children think?- Instructional decisions are based on what the child can do for their age
and cognitive level of development.
 Individual Constructivism: How can I intentionally structure an activity intentionally, so that a
child can learn through exploring, testing, trying?
 Limited Cognition: Preoperational thought has limited reasoning: What are children’s schemas
or theories on how the world works?
 Discovery Learning (Inquiry): How can a child discover a concept through the materials, choices,
and questions that I provide?

Vygotsky Sociocultural Theorist: Learning Drives Development

 Direct Instruction: Teacher led instruction that is to the whole group or small groups. It should
be active, hands-on, use real objects, and be based on assessment (measuring the child’s
knowledge or skill level on a subject or content).
 Social Constructivism: How and what can we learn together through cooperative play?
 Guided Participation: How can I best teach this skill through interaction and demonstration?
 Scaffolding: Using a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively
toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process.
 Zone of Proximal Development: What do they know? What will I teach them? Did they learn it?
What are the learning gaps in their knowledge?