- Mr. Jones, in the first section of the chapter-opening vignette, is perplexed when he asks his students to follow his example by raising their right hands; instead, they raise their left hands. According to developmental theory, why did this happen?
- ANSWER: c) According to Piaget, children of first grade age have entered the concrete operations stage of cognitive development. Concrete operational children are egocentric; they are not yet capable of seeing the perspective of others. Therefore, they did not understand that because Mr. Jones was facing them, they would have to see what is their right as his left, and their left as his right.
- What simple solution might work to help Mr. Jones to get his students to raise their right hands?
- ANSWER: b) Mr. Jones can turn around, his back facing his students, so that they share the same perspective.
- In the opening-chapter vignette, why did Ms. Lewis's students refuse to allow the girl with the ill mother to go on the field trip?
- ANSWER: d) According to Piaget's theory of moral development, children of this age are judging morality of behavior based on the consequences of actions, and see rules as irreversible, regardless of circumstances.
- According to Kohlberg's theory of moral development, how can Ms. Lewis help her students move past their beliefs that "rules are rules with no exceptions"?
- ANSWER: a) Kohlberg proposed that the way to advance moral reasoning is by having children interact with others one or, at most, two stages above their own level of moral reasoning.
- According to Erikson's theory of personal development, why did Frank react the way he did to Ms. Quintera's praise of his poetry?
- ANSWER: a) Highlighting Frank's achievement placed him in the role of teacher's pet, a role unfavorable to the early adolescent.
- Write a brief description of a typical (i.e., fits the theories) student at one of the following grade levels: K-6, 5-9, or 7-12. Use the ideas of each theorist from this chapter to guide your description.
- POSSIBLE ANSWER: If there is a typical student at the 7th-12th grade level, the student is most likely capable of reasoning at Piaget's formal operations level of cognitive reasoning, provided appropriate environmental stimuli are present and scaffolding (see Vygotsky's theory) is provided. This individual can think abstractly, reasoning about counterfactual phenomena. Morally speaking, the adolescent, if challenged appropriately, is beginning to reason at a stage 5 level of moral reasoning; s/he believes that what is right is what is favored by the majority of people, yet protects individual rights. It is highly unlikely, though possible, that an adolescent can reason at stage 6 of Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning. Finally, emotionally speaking, this adolescent is searching for his/her identity, experimenting with a variety of facades, both in terms of lifestyle and career. If all goes well, s/he will emerge from this stage prepared to form an interpersonal relationship in stage 6 of Erikson's psychosocial theory of development.
- Make a list of developmentally appropriate teaching strategies for one of the following grade levels: K-5, 5-9, and 7-12.
- POSSIBLE ANSWER: If I were teaching a group of 5th through 9th graders, I'd be focusing on developing their ability to reason over concrete issues, as children in this group fall within Piaget's concrete operations stage. However, because they are also emerging as abstract thinkers during this period, I'd mix students by different levels of ability so that developmentally more advanced thinkers can challenge their less advanced peers to their zones of proximal development. I would also be careful to insure that children focus on developing their skills rather than social comparison, even though social comparison is of utmost importance in older children and young adolescents. The goal here is to have children feel industrious rather than inferior and eventually attain a strong sense of identity in stage 5. Finally, I'd challenge moral reasoning so that children and adolescents learn to reason at Kohlberg's stage five reasoning. I'd highlight moral dilemmas as they emerge during daily class interactions, and ask students to discuss their opinions about the dilemmas.
