CHAPTER 5 VOCABULARY

Accommodation-dealing with a new object or event by either modifying an existing scheme or forming a new one

A little boy always knows to push open his bedroom door. When he goes to his grand

mom's house, her door must be pulled open. The little boy tries to push it but it won’t open, he

then realizes to pull it toward him.

Assimilation- dealing with a new event in a way that is consistent with and existing scheme.

A little girl looks outside in the morning and sees the morning dew on all the cars. They appear to be wet. She thinks that it must have rained during the night when really it did not.

Disequilibrium- an inability to explain new events with existing schemes; tends to be accompanied by a sense of discomfort

A child seems to have mastered the process of addition (only single digit numbers such as 4+6). When she sees a two digit number added to another two digit number (26+36) she becomes frustrated because she doesn’t know how to align them in order to add the digits. Equilibrium- the state of being able to explain new events with existing schemes. This takes place when a child learns to add the two digit numbers together. This movement is called equilibration.

Guided Participation- a child’s performance, with guidance and support, of an activity in the adult world.

The father guides his son in learning how to hammer a nail into a wall to hang a picture.

Developmental Milestone- appearance of a new developmentally more advanced behavior

Students can read after they become familiar with high frequency words

Scaffolding- support mechanism that helps a learner successfully perform a task within his or her zone of proximal development.

A baseball player is having trouble hitting the outside pitch. The coach stays after every practice to help and guide the player on how to hit outside pitches. Eventually the player is able to hit the ball to the outside pitch to the opposite field.

Stage Theory- theory that depicts development as a series of relatively discrete period.

Sally is 12 months old and is beginning to walk. At a year and a half she is able to talk and communicate with others.

Zone of Proximal Development- Range of tasks that a child can perform with the help and guidance of others, but cannot yet perform independently.

John is in kindergarten and he is learning to write his name. The teacher has to help him and demonstrate how his name is written correctly for John to be able to do it on his own eventually.

Internalization- Process through which a learner gradually incorporates socially based activities into his or her internal cognitive processes.

A group of students quiz each other with math flash cards. If the students are just reading it and not processing it, internalization will not occur.

Plasticity- capacity for brain to learn and adapt to new circumstances.

Jess is just starting middle school and is trying to get used to moving from class to class when the bell rings and having different teachers for different subjects.