Chapter 2 Entry

Analyze

"If you pour milk from a tall, narrow container into a shallow, wide one in the presence of a preoperational child, the child will firmly believe that the tall glass has more milk" (Slavin, 34).  This quote from the text is an excellent example of Piaget and his work with adolescents and their development.  The topic of my discussion group this week was Piaget's different levels of cognitive ability and function among adolescents. There are four stages that adolescents go through and Piaget believed that every person goes through each stage and cannot skip one in their development (Piaget, 32).  The two stages that my discussion group focused on were the preoperational stage and the formal operational stage.  Our task as a discussion group was to identify the differences in teaching second graders and eighth graders new science concepts.  My discussion was based around the things that a second grader would be lacking and what I would have to do as a teacher in order to make up for those gaps in order to effectively teach students at that age a new concept.  One of the main deficits that students in second grade (preoperational) would face is their inability to understand conservation and how it pertains to measurements.  Students would have to be shown that even if they see the same measured amount of a substance in a different size container it is very likely that they amounts are equal.  One of my group members used the term "egocentric" which is where students cannot see things from other points of views and this would have to be considered when teaching new concepts.  The discussion on teaching eighth graders (formal operational) was centered on their ability to solve hypothetical problems.  Students in this stage should be able to take in variables and make hypotheses about what may happen when weight is applied to certain portions of a simple machine, for example.

Reflect

Understanding that students go through certain changes in their cognitive behavior is critical in helping them reach their full potential as students and one day as adults.  I have read and studied this in my undergraduate studies and as I was rereading some of the material I had several students pop into my head, how I had seen them handle certain scenarios and how that could be attributed to the different levels of cognitive operation.  One question that repeatedly came to my mind was "what factors affect how quickly or if ever children move from one stage to another?"  The students that I teach are in a program specifically designed for below grade level readers.  These students struggle academically as well as behaviorally.  On page 38 of the text it explains that some people never reach the formal operational stage of cognitive development.  An example of this comes to my mind, not with learning but with a difficulty I see students having with school procedures.  One of our procedures at my school is that kids are required to wear a school issued ID.  Teachers have to patrol the hallways and often get into verbal altercations with students who are very defiant when reminded to put on their ID.  This makes me wonder are these students still in the egocentric phase of development.  Are these students unable to see the safety issue that a school may have if they don't wear identification?  I see so many students who seem unable to look at things from another point of view to the point that they often get into trouble over it.  Reading deeper into Piaget's stages has been beneficial in understanding some of the behaviors my students exude.  Upon realizing these behaviors I began to wonder if certain factors affect how quickly a child moves from one stage to another, as I teach 15-17 year old students who truly have more characteristics of a child in the preoperational stage.  Working through this new information will allow me to diagnose where students are at an earlier point in the ear and really use this to my advantage.  Consistent reminders and explanations may be needed, not just for academic purposes but also for classroom and school rules and procedures.  I intend to study not only the original work that Piaget did but also the critiques and criticisms of his work in order to establish the answer to some of my questions and to also address if I as a teacher can have a positive impact on a students cognitive development.

Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice. Boston, MA: Pearson.