PIAGET’S COGNITIVEDEVELOPMENT& UNDERSTANDING STUDENT DIVERSITY

April 5, 2012

By: Megan Shelton

Educational Psychology

Schemas

Adaptation

Assimilation

THEORIES

Learning styles

Impulsive

Reflective

Field dependent

Field independent

Encompasses all

subjects

Pre-Kindergarten

22 students

Predominately white

CLASS OBSERVATION

Instructor: My teacher has

taught 3rd grade for many years,

this is her first year teaching Pre-K

and I can tell she has a passion for

younger children. She Just

graduated from UWG 2 years ago

with her master’s in education.

Instruction: Time is very limited

in Pre-K, Learn through centers,

Large circle & small group time.

FINDINGS

Students: are eager to

learn, enjoy class and

ask many questions.

Teacher-student

interaction: Is constant;

help reading a book

bringing glasses, saying

ABC’s days of the week,

singing songs

Class management: very

well manage through positive

reinforcements like pizza

parties, ice cream parties,

and reminders.

Assessment: in Pre-K any

art work done, teacher

mistake corrected by student,

new accomplishment is all

assessed. (oral )

FINDINGS

Curriculum: is all

based on Pre-K GPS and

she modifies it where

needed.

ARGUMENT At a very young age children begin to learn a pattern of

behavior and thought process (schemes), as they grow they

learn through interacting with outside sources such as

environment, parents, teachers, and peers. As teachers it is our

duty to give them concrete detailed information on every thing

we teach. While keeping in mind that no two students are alike,

there a many thought processes and students have different

ways of learning the same information. Whether it is teaching

moral development like Student X or understanding learning

styles like Student Z teachers should always teach with an open

mind.

RELEVANCE

I felt like these two theories Cognitive

Development and learning styles were relevant to my

project because I was able to experience first hand

examples of these in my classroom through the

students I observe. The book as well as my other

sources helped me to understand in depth why a

teacher needs to be able to format lesson plans in

order to accommodate all learning styles.

REFERENCES

Cherry, Kendra. Background and Key Concepts of

Piaget's Theory Stages of Cognitive Development. http://

psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory/a/

keyconcepts.htm

Snowman, Jack. (2010). Psychology applied to teaching.

Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4etXWYS84http://

www.mindtools.com/mnemlsty.html