Jacob Johnston, Chapter 11

1. Assimilation uses an existing scheme to deal with something new. For

example, if I were, for some reason, to get a wolf puppy, this is a new animal
for me to keep as a pet. However, I would probably use the same scheme to
take care of it that I would for taking care of my domestic dog because they
are similar enough animals. Accommodation requires a change to an existing
scheme or the creation of a new scheme to deal with something new. An
example of this is when I took a racquetball class in college. I had been
playing tennis for years by this point and racquetball would seem to be a
similar sport. However, I had to change the scheme I used for tennis to fit
racquetball because you want the ball to do different things in the two sports.
In other words, I modified my tennis scheme to accommodate the sport of
racquetball. The two processes are related in that they have the same
components, schemes and a new object or event. The difference is whether
the scheme is being modified or created or the object or event is being used
to fit the scheme.

2. The children who thought the candy bar that had been broken into multiple
pieces had more candy were likely preoperational. Students at this stage
tend to rely more on perception than logic and this is a similar situation in my
mind to the conservation of water problem. There are more pieces and they
may be spread over a larger area, but they look like more even though they
have to be the same because they came from a bar the same size as the
whole bar. The other group is likely at the concrete operations stage. This is
the first stage when children are able to comprehend the concept of
conservation and would know that the candy bar had just as much candy as
before even though it had been broken into many pieces.

3. One way that people in the formal operations stage of development are
different from those in the concrete operations stage is that they are able to
apply logic to more abstract concepts. During the concrete operations stage,
logic can only be applied to concrete ideas. This is the reason that we don’t
try to teach the higher maths in elementary school. The younger children
struggle with the abstract concept in higher maths, especially those that
cannot be related to concrete objects. Those in the formal operations stage
are also able to think about thought and can recognize when they are not
being logical. It’s very difficult to win an argument with a younger child even
if your argument is perfect. However, you can point out fallacies for a
teenager, and as long as their pride doesn’t get in the way, they’ll
acknowledge the mistake. Finally, children who have reached the formal
operations stage are able to visualize they way things could be. A student at
this age may start thinking about what they want to do after high school and
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then start working toward that goal because they can visualize what they
need to change about themselves to reach that goal.

4. The zone of proximal development is the area of a child’s abilities that are
just being cognitively possible. In other words, skills that the child is
cognitively able to do, but ones that have not been previously mastered and
require help for the child to complete. For my two-year-old son, dressing
himself is just barely in the zone of proximal development. He understands
how to put on his clothes, but he requires help to do it himself. Scaffolding is
the help given by competent teachers that enable the learner to complete
the new task. The scaffolding for my earlier example is putting Evan’s hands
in the right place and occasionally turning clothing items around so they go
on the correct way. Currently, my wife usually bathes our son, but soon we
will begin to teach him to do it entirely by himself. To do this, he will need
some scaffolding. We will likely divide the fairly complex (for a two-year-old)
task of bathing himself into smaller bits (washing hair, then face, then arms,
and so on.) We will also likely use modeling and feedback to make sure he
understands what he’s done right and what he’s done wrong. At the
beginning, we will use all of this, but as time goes on, we’d expect him to
clean larger chunks of his body without being prompted and dump the
modeling. After that, we’ll likely only provide feedback until he doesn’t need
our help at all.

5. While I’ve likely been cognitively able to learn Vygotsky’s theory for a while
now, I’ve not learned it before, so it is probably in my zone of proximal
development. I’ve long since left self-talk behind, but I did use ample inner
speech during this lesson. While reading the section about Vygotsky, I issued
myself silent instructions to pay attention to certain aspects I thought were
important as well as telling myself to stop paying attention to Wonder Pets.
The scaffolding involved in this learning was the professor’s assignment of
the reading and the guidance of the reading questions. The scaffolding of
being able to discuss the concept with the professor and other students on
the forums was available if I needed it. Finally, the information about
Vygotsky was internalized so that I understand the concept.

6. Cognitive apprenticeships are basically where a student learns how to think

about a problem from the teacher. This involves modeling, where the teacher
thinks aloud while carrying out the task; coaching, where the teacher gives
suggestions and feedback; scaffolding, where the teacher provides support
for the learners; articulation, where the student explains what is being done
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 11

and why; reflection, where the student is asked to compare their work to that
of others; increasing of complexity and diversity, where the student is
challenged as their grasp of the task improves; and exploration, where the
student creates their own questions and problems. An example of this is one
of my methods for teaching essay writing in my remedial writing class. I start
off writing brainstorming a topic I’ve given myself and I talk my way through
the thought processes in front of the students. Then I talk through my
thought processes as I weed out the bad ideas, flesh out the good ideas and
get those ideas organized for writing. Then, I have my students do the same
with a different topic and while reminding them of their goals and helping
them come up with ideas when they get stuck. In the beginning, we work
together as a group and I prompt them often, but as they improve, I remove
the scaffolding. I frequently ask the students why they’re organizing and how
they should organize to make sure they understand and also to reinforce the
concepts. I also show the students sample essays and have the students
compare what they’ve done to the sample A paper. My essay topics in this
process are pretty simple, but we gradually build up to topics that match the
level of difficulty found in a graduation writing test.

7. Teaching the basic concept of algebra can easily be taught through an

authentic activity because the thought process in “solve for x” is commonly
used in balancing a check book or other bank account, something the
students will likely have to do as an adult. To convert the real-life problem
into an activity for teaching this concept of algebra, you can give them a
bank statement that lists only the current balance. Then, you can give them a
sample check book register with all of their purchases for the month. You can
then give them the formula (Bank balance) – x = (checkbook balance).
Students can be told that by solving for x they can find out what purchase or
deposit has not gone through. This is authentic because it uses the abstract
concept from the algebra or pre-algebra class and requires a real life
application that that thought process will make easier for them in the future.

Response to Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage: This article basically takes the very short
treatment of the stage in the book and breaks it down into substages: reflexes,
primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of secondary
circular reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and mental representation. All of these
stages seem to build on each other. The reflexes stage keeps the baby alive and
practices basic movements. These movements gradually increase in complexity and
finally, during the mental representation stage, the baby is beginning to develop the
cognitive abilities that will lead it to the next stage.
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Activity - Piagetian Theory – Name _______________________________

Different Thinking at Different Stages

Directions: Match the following examples with the appropriate stage using
lower case alphabet letters and CHARACTERISTICS USING UPPER CASE
ALPHABET LETTERS below. Read the assigned websites before attempting
this activity.

STAGES

a. Sensorimotor

b. Preoperational

c. Concrete operational

d. Formal operational

CHARACTERISTICS

A. Goal-directed activity; cause-and-effect relationship.

B. Hasn't achieved conservation.
C. Egocentrism
D. Combinatorial logic
E. Can hold more than one premise in mind at the same time.
F. Seriation of actions.

stage CHARAC.

b B 1. Mary wants more cookies. Her mother breaks in half the ones she has
already and Mary is satisfied.
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d E 2. Jill is able to understand that some people say one thing but act in ways
that are not congruent with their statements.

c F 3. When given a set of cards picturing the steps in baking a cake, Sally can put
them in the proper order.

a A 4. Johnny wants you to pick up his spoon and put it on the table so he can
drop it again.

b C 5. Mother says: "How do you think Molly feels when you take her doll away?"
Child says: "She feels like I want to play with it."

d E 6. Karen can predict the movement of a body, taking into account several
influences simultaneously.

Chapter 11 – Extra Activities – Identifying Piaget’s Stages

NAME ______________________________________________

Directions: Name the stage in which each of the following individuals appears to
be functioning. Explain why you chose the stage that you did for each person.

1. From a group of objects, June chooses a straw, a pencil, and a ruler to form a
group of “things that go together” because they are all long and skinny.
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 11

June is at the concrete operations level because she is demonstration class

inclusion.

2. A patient is able to discuss the question, “What would happen if people would
never become ill?”
The patient is at the formal operations stage because they can imagine what the
world would be if things changed, much like the example of idealistic youth in the
book.

3. Doug can now enjoy playing “peek-a-boo.”

Doug is at the sensorimotor stage because he may not have grasped object
permanence yet or it is still a new concept.

4. When given three kinds of meet, three kinds of cheese, and three kinds of
bread, Lisa can make 27 kinds of sandwiches.
Lisa is at the formal operations level because she is using combinatorial reasoning.

5. Sammy wants you to pick up his toy and put it in his crib so that he can drop
it again.
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 11

Sammy is at the sensorimotor stage because he is still exploring cause and effect.