Final Cognitive Development Exam Prep Chapter 2

Woolfolk et al., Educational Psychology, 7^th Canadian edition

Chapter 2: Cognitive Development

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following is NOT an example of a developmental change?

A) Julius is working on his batting skills, and he hit the ball much farther today

B) Caitlin left out several steps in the process of conducting the lab experiment, but she understands what she did wrong and is redoing the experiment.

C) Mark is walking carefully on one foot while his sprained ankle heals.

D) Milos has learned enough English to introduce himself to other students

Page Ref: 23

Skill: Understanding

1. Which one of the following is an example of maturation?

A) Gaining weight from age two to age three

B) Losing weight due to exercise

C) Losing weight during a brief illness

D) Learning which foods produce the most weight

Page Ref: 24

Skill: Understanding

1. As time goes on, Tina becomes a happier individual, more in touch with life, and content with her situation. This description emphasizes what kind of development for Tina?

A) Cognitive

B) Personal

C) Physical

D) Social

Page Ref: 23-24

Skill: Understanding

1. Which of the following would NOT be considered a general principle in nearly all theories of development?

A) Development is balanced.

B) Development is gradual.

C) Development occurs in an orderly way.

D) Individuals develop at different rates.

Page Ref: 25

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which of the following is NOT one of the three key questions surrounding development that continue to elicit debate among researchers and theorists?

A) Are there critical periods for developing abilities?

B) What is the source of development?

C) Do people develop at different rates?

D) What is the shape of development?

Page Ref: 24-25

Skill: Knowledge

1. If John is introduced to the concept of fractions today, he will not be able to start adding and subtracting them tomorrow. What general principle of development is illustrated?

A) Development proceeds through identifiable stages.

B) Development takes place gradually.

C) Maturation is the basis for development.

D) John lacks personal development.

Page Ref: 25

Skill: Understanding

1. What part of the brain coordinates and orchestrates skilled movements?

A) Cerebellum

B) Hippocampus

C) Thalamus

D) Amygdala

Page Ref: 25

Skill: Knowledge

1. Mr. Mills instructs his students to practice the steps in the process over and over. As a result of students’ practice, what is happening in their brains?

A) Overproduction of neurons in the amygdala

B) Pruning of neurons in the amygdala

C) Increase in number of axons per neuron

D) Strengthening of connections between neurons

Page Ref: 26

Skill: Knowledge

1. What part of the brain has the information processing capacity of a small computer?
2. Each neuron
3. Cerebellum
4. Thalamus
5. Hippocampus

Page Ref: 26

Skill: Knowledge

1. The part of the cerebral cortex that matures first controls

A) higher-order thinking processes.

B) physical movements.

C) the processing of language.

D) the formation of associations.

Page Ref: 28

Skill: Knowledge

1. The last part of the brain to develop fully is the

A) cerebellum.

B) cerebral cortex.

C) frontal lobe.

D) thalamus.

Page Ref: 28-29

Skill: Knowledge

1. Specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain involves

A) Broca's area.

B) lateralization.

C) the primary auditory cortex.

D) Wernicke's area.

Page Ref: 29

Skill: Knowledge

1. A debate assignment involves the analysis of divergent perspectives on an issue, development of arguments to support diverse perspectives, and efficient recall of resources and persuasive points during the debate. What part or parts of the brain are most likely functioning to complete this assignment effectively?

A) Amygdala

B) Right hemisphere of the cortex processing creatively

C) Left hemisphere of the cortex processing analytically

D) Many parts working simultaneously

Page Ref: 29

Skill: Knowledge

1. What facts about brain development during adolescence explain their risk-taking impulsivity?

A) The right hemisphere develops earlier than the left hemisphere.

B) The left hemisphere develops earlier than the right hemisphere.

C) The limbic system develops more slowly than the prefrontal lobe.

D) The limbic system develops earlier than the prefrontal lobe.

Page Ref: 30

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which of the following is NOT a myth about the brain?

A) Alcoholic beverages kill brain cells.

B) Some people are more “right brained” and others are more “left brained.”

C) Our brains are changing all the time.

D) You use only 10% of your brain.

Page Ref: 32, 34

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which of the following is NOT considered a general principle for the teaching implications of neuroscience?

A) The brain is not malleable.

B) Because cognitive functions are differentiated, assessment should be differentiated.

C) There are multiple ways to teach and learn a skill.

D) Some learning disorders have a neurological basis

Page Ref: 35-36

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which of the following is NOT considered an influence in our cognitive development according to Piaget?

A) Activity

B) Exploration

C) Maturation

D) Social transmission

Page Ref: 37-38

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which of the following pairs of factors that influence thinking is thought by Piaget to be genetic or inherited tendencies?

A) Accommodation and assimilation

B) Adaptation and organization

C) Assimilation and schemes

D) Schemes and equilibration

Page Ref: 37

Skill: Knowledge

1. According to Piaget, the basic blocks of thinking and memory that permit us to represent objects and events in our world are called

A) actions.

B) accommodations.

C) adaptations.

D) schemes.

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Knowledge

1. The two processes involved in adaptation are

A) assimilation and accommodation.

B) assimilation and equilibration.

C) equilibration and organization.

D) social transmission and scheme.

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which one of the following is the clearest example of Piaget's concept of assimilation?

A) Learning that a green light means "go" and a red light means "stop."

B) Learning to paint with a new type of brush.

C) Looking at teachers as they lecture.

D) Looking at a worm and thinking that it is a snake.

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Understanding

1. Jeannie observed rocks sinking in water and said, "I already knew that. All rocks sink." Then she saw a piece of pumice floating on water and was told that pumice is rock. Several days later, she was asked again if rocks sink in water. She replied, "Well, most do." In Piaget's terms, what process did Jeannie use to draw this conclusion?

A) Accommodation

B) Assimilation

C) Classification

D) Conservation

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Understanding

1. According to Piaget, the process of searching for a balance between cognitive schemes and environmental information is called

A) accommodation.

B) adaptation.

C) assimilation.

D) equilibration.

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Knowledge

1. When we try a particular strategy and it does not work, the discomfort we experience is called

A) assimilation.

B) centration.

C) disequilibrium.

D) non-adaptation.

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Knowledge

1. According to Piaget, people pass through the four stages of cognitive development

A) at the same levels of competence.

B) at the same rates, adjusted for intelligence.

C) in specifically determined ages.

D) in the same sequence.

Page Ref: 38

Skill: Knowledge

1. best conveys a child's thinking What of the following sayings best conveys a child's thinking before the notion of object permanence is acquired?

A) "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

B) "A penny saved is a penny earned."

C) "A stitch in time saves nine."

D) "Out of sight, out of mind."

Page Ref: 39

Skill: Understanding

1. In Piaget's theory, an understanding of object permanence is acquired during what period of development?

A) Early preoperational

B) Operational

C) Formal operational

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 39

Skill: Knowledge

1. Michelle covers her own eyes, because she thinks her parents will not see her when they are playing a game of peek-a-boo. What stage of Piaget's cognitive theory does this account best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations

B) Formal operations

C) Preoperational thought

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 39

Skill: Understanding

1. In the sensorimotor stage of development, a child begins to develop

A) goal-directed actions.

B) mental operations.

C) preoperational thought.

D) semiotic functions.

Page Ref: 39

Skill: Knowledge

1. Nathan is shown two balls of clay that he identifies as equal in quantity. When one of the balls is then rolled into a sausage, Nathan says that piece (i.e., sausage) now has more clay. In what stage of development is he likely to be?

A) Concrete operations

B) Goal-directed operations

C) Preoperational thought

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 40, 42

Difficulty: Understanding

1. Billy refuses to drink his orange juice from the 1/2 full glass that his mother gives to him. He wants her to pour the juice into his favourite cup and watches his mother fill it to the brim. Billy likes his cup better because he gets more juice in it. With what cognitive concept in Piaget's theory is Billy having trouble?

A) Accommodation

B) Assimilation

C) Conservation

D) Semiotic function

Page Ref: 40

Skill: Understanding

1. After stringing beads from a large necklace onto a smaller empty string, a child states that there are now more beads on the small string than there were on the larger string. What cognitive concept (Piaget's theory) does this behaviour best illustrate?

A) Accommodation

B) Assimilation

C) Conservation

D) Equilibration

Page Ref: 40

Skill: Understanding

1. A teacher pours juice from a larger glass into two tiny glasses, and the child beams, happy now that he has "more juice." What cognitive stage (Piaget's theory) does the account best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations

B) Formal operational thought

C) Preoperational thought

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 40

Skill: Understanding

1. A preoperational child's belief that a tall, narrow glass contains more liquid than a short, wide glass is probably due to difficulties in

A) decentring.

B) egocentrism.

C) serration.

D) object permanence.

Page Ref: 40

Skill: Knowledge

1. Corinne has mastered this type of problem: "If the white house is bigger than the blue house, and the blue house is bigger than the red house, is the white house bigger or smaller than the red house?" What stage of Piaget's cognitive theory does this situation best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations

B) Formal operations

C) Preoperational thought

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 43

Skill: Understanding

1. David has just purchased a car and is intensely interested in it. When the car has engine trouble, he is able systematically to locate the problem. What cognitive stage of Piaget's theory does this situation best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations

B) Formal operations

C) Preoperational thought

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 43

Skill: Understanding

1. What is the hallmark of Piaget's stage of formal operations?

A) Semiotic function

B) Hypothetico-deductive reasoning

C) Organized thinking of dependent elements

D) Reversible thinking

Page Ref: 43

Skill: Knowledge

1. Janie was having some difficulty deciding how to organize her defense for the debate competition. She prepared several hypothetical arguments that her opponents might raise, and how she might reply. What cognitive stage of Piaget's theory does this account best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations

B) Formal operations

C) Preoperational thought

D) Sensorimotor

Page Ref: 43

Skill: Understanding

1. Sierra walked into class late and felt quite embarrassed. To make matters worse, she was having a bad hair day and felt like all eyes were on her, judging her, and rejecting her. Sierra’s thinking can be described as

A) adolescent egocentrism

B) adaptation by assimilation

C) reversible thinking

D) disequilibrium

Page Ref: 45

Skill: Understanding

1. Which one of the following statements best reflects Piaget's position on the question of speeding up cognitive development?

A) Acceleration is both inefficient and useless.

B) Acceleration is effective for only the brightest students.

C) Keeping cognitive development "on track" is a teacher's role.

D) Speeding up cognitive development is a teacher's role.

Page Ref: 48-49

Skill: Understanding

1. Current views about the limitations of Piaget's theory generally support the idea that

A) Piaget's tasks appear to have been invalid for judging cognitive ability.

B) Piaget's tasks appear to have generally been too easy for subjects.

C) Piaget tended to overestimate children's abilities and underestimate their social differences.

D) Piaget tended to underestimate children's abilities and overlook the social and cultural issues.

Page Ref: 48

Skill: Knowledge

1. An increasingly influential view of cognitive development proposed by Vygotsky is based on

A) concrete experiences.

B) creation of complex schemes of thought.

C) sociocultural theory.

D) mastery of scientific thinking

Page Ref: 49-50

Skill: Knowledge

1. Which theorist or group of theorists promoted the idea that knowledge is co-constructed during social interactions?

A) Vygotsky

B) Piaget

C) Neo-Piagetian theorists

D) Elkind

Page Ref: 50

Skill: Knowledge

1. For Vygotsky, the role of cultural tools in cognitive development involves

A) both real and psychological tools.

B) essentially real tools.

C) predominantly symbolic tools.

D) primarily psychological tools.

Page Ref: 51

Skill: Knowledge

1. The role of "private speech" in Vygotsky's view is to

A) call attention to oneself during play.

B) guide children toward self-regulation.

C) encourage children to learn new words.

D) stimulate the development of language from simple words to full sentences.

Page Ref: 53

Skill: Knowledge

1. Piaget called children's self-directed talk ________ while Vygotsky called the same behaviour ________.

A) egocentric speech; private speech

B) private speech; egocentric speech

C) private speech; social speech

D) social speech; private speech

Page Ref: 53

Skill: Knowledge

1. The zone of proximal development is the area where students may solve a problem

A) by themselves.

B) with no disequilibrium.

C) with support.

D) without frustration.

Page Ref: 54

Skill: Knowledge

1. The “Magic Middle” refers to

A) a learning environment that support the average or “mid-level” learner.

B) the knowledge of a middle child in a given family.

C) a place of “match” where students are neither bored nor frustrated by a task.

D) a learning activity that require the use of a computer to scaffold learning.

Page Ref: 54, 58

Skill: Knowledge

1. According to Vygotsky, scaffolding represents

A) a barrier or a block to solving a problem.

B) a plateau that children reach before progressing to a new stage.

C) artificial support, such as notes, on which children can rely while learning.

D) external support for helping children solve problems on their own.

Page Ref: 58

Skill: Knowledge

True/False Questions

1. Developmental changes are genetically determined rather than environmentally determined.

Page Ref: 24

1. The part of the brain directly associated with the coordination of skilled movements is the cerebellum.

Page Ref: 25

1. Positron emission is the name given to describe the production of new neurons.

Page Ref: 26

1. The brains of young children show more plasticity than the brains of adults.

Page Ref: 29

1. One explanation for the strong emotions and reward-seeking behaviour amongst adolescents is the faster development of the right cortex over the left.

Page Ref: 30

1. A young child’s brain can only manage to learn one language a time.

Page Ref: 32

1. Active learning environments and flexible instruction support cognitive development as a result of the relative plasticity of the brain.

Page Ref: 36

1. Assimilation takes place when a person uses existing schemes to make sense of events in their world.

Page Ref: 38

1. Understanding of object permanence occurs during the sensorimotor stage.

Page Ref: 39

1. The development of language is associated with the concrete operational stage.

Page Ref: 40

1. Seriation refers to the ability to work with symbols.

Page Ref: 43

1. The cognitive stage associated with ability to understand hypothetical situations is formal operations.

Page Ref: 43

1. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is characteristic of adolescent egocentrism.

Page Ref: 43, 45

1. According to Piaget, most adults may be able to use formal operational thought in only a few areas in which they have the greatest interest or experience.

Page Ref: 45

1. Neo-Piagetian theorists are concerned with how attention, memory, and strategy use relate to Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

Page Ref: 46

1. Vygotsky viewed children's private speech to be a form of egocentric speech that indicates a child is unable to see the world through the eyes of others.

Page Ref: 53

1. When children are in a zone of proximal development, use of scaffolding is appropriate.

Page Ref: 54

1. One of the major limitations of Vygotsky’s theory is that it consists mostly of general ideas.

Page Ref: 55

Completion Questions

1. Changes in the way an individual relates to others is known as ________ development.

Page Ref: 23

1. Developmental changes that are genetically programmed are a function of ________.

Page Ref: 24

1. The specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain is called ________.

Page Ref: 29

1. The brain’s tendency to remain adaptable and flexible is known as _______.

Page Ref: 29

1. According to Piaget, ________ occurs when new information alters existing schemes or creates new ones.

Page Ref: 38

1. When a scheme produces an unsatisfactory result, a student experiences ________.

Page Ref: 38

1. "Out of sight, out of mind" describes the behaviour of children who have not acquired ________.

Page Ref: 39

1. The principle that some characteristics of an object remain unchanged in spite of changes in appearance is called ________.

Page Ref: 40

1. Having the ability to focus on more than one aspect of a situation at a time is called ________.

Page Ref: 40

1. The process of making an orderly arrangement of objects from large to small or vice versa is called ________.

Page Ref: 43

1. The ability to reason abstractly and deductively occurs during the Piagetian stage of ________.

Page Ref: 43-44

1. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is the hallmark of Piaget’s stage of _______ operations

Page Ref: 43

1. Kathleen Berger refers to the space between what the learner already knows and what he or she is not yet ready to learn as the ________.

Page Ref: 54

1. ________ learning involves discovering what students need, providing information, prompts, and encouragement at the right time, and finally increasing student independence by gradually eliminating these supports.

Page Ref: 58

Short Answer Questions

1. Define development and identify specific types of forms it can take. Then explain how maturation relates to development.

Page Ref: 23-24

1. Riley is typically a rule follower who doesn’t cause trouble. He’s on the football team, has a good reputation, and likes school. In his tenth-grade year, he has started going out with the guys after football games on Friday nights. Now he’s breaking rules, taking risks, and doing things that his younger self labeled as stupid and reckless. Based on what we know about brain development, what explains Riley’s behaviour?

Page Ref: 30

Page Ref: 37-38

1. Name and define the basic aspects of reasoning that must be mastered before a child is able to solve problems of conservation.

Page Ref: 41-42

1. Describe strategies that you would use to teach a class of students who are all most likely in Piaget’s concrete-operational stage of development.

• Use concrete objects in teaching when possible. For example, use models in science lessons, and diagrams that illustrate government branches in social studies classes.
• Give students an opportunity to manipulate and test objects. For example, set up simple science experiments, or have students create objects by hand to illustrate history lessons.
• Ensure that presentations and readings are brief and well-organized.
• Use familiar examples to explain more complex ideas. An example of this might be comparing students’ lives with the characters in a story.
• Give opportunities to classify and group objects and ideas on increasingly complex levels. This might include activities like comparing the systems of the human body to other kinds of systems (i.e. comparing the brain to a computer).
• Present problems that require logical, analytical thinking.

Page Ref: 44

1. Discuss the general critiques of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

Page Ref: 47-49

1. Define Vygotsky's zone of proximal development.

Page Ref: 54-55

Case Studies

1. Trip, a seventh-grader, is having difficulty learning principles of fractions, such as two out of five is 2/5, 3/5 is less than 2/3, and so on. While his classmates seem to follow most of the examples given in class and in the textbook, Trip feels overwhelmed and confused by them. He is good at other subjects (such as reading and social studies) but is falling behind rapidly in mathematics. Being familiar with Piaget's stages of development, you suspect that Trip is very concrete in his thinking about mathematical principles compared to many of his classmates.

A) Based on the above assessment of Trip's situation, what teaching approaches would Piaget's ideas suggest for making the principles of fractions more understandable to Trip?

Page Ref: 44

B) If Trip is a concrete thinker in mathematics, is he likely to think in similar ways in other subjects? Explain using appropriate ideas from Piaget and Vygotsky.

Page Ref: 46-48, 50-51

1. Mason is another seventh grader who is having difficulty in math class. He stares blankly at the test paper asking him to compute fractions such as 5/7 and 9/12 as percentages. He can't remember at all how to determine whether 4/5 is larger or smaller than 5/8, so he makes a guess. He hopes that, with some luck, he might manage in the class. On the weekend, Mason is watching his favourite sport, basketball. He remarks to his sister, "Oh, this guy made eight out of 11 shots last week; he's close to an 80 percent shooter so he should be for these free throws." After the player makes both shots, Mason looks down at the statistics sheet he's been keeping on the local teams' shooting percentages and updates the statistics.

A) Is the inconsistency between Mason's performances on school test problems and in working with basketball statistics a problem for Piaget's stage theory? That is, if Mason is at a particular stage of reasoning, shouldn't he be able to deal with the school problems as successfully as the basketball ones? Explain.

Page Ref: 45-46

B) How might Vygotsky explain the role of other people in shaping Mason's math skills in the two contexts? Explain.

Page Ref: 50-52, 58

C) Knowing Mason's behaviours, how might a teacher work with him to improve his performances on the fractions and percentages unit?

Page Ref: 44, 50