- Which of Piaget's stages do the children appear to be in? How can you tell?
- What techniques could you use to teach each child? Why must the techniques differ?
The younger child was in the pre-operational stage of learning because he was only able to think based off of what he already knew. He did not take in the other perspective, or the fact that what the cards were saying might just be made up, but still were rules to be followed. The older girl was in the concrete operational stage because she was able to distinguish the rules and even though they were contrary to her own beliefs, she was able to follow the rule to come to the correct answer.
In order to teach the younger student, I would take a more direct approach in teaching him. He can't think in different ways that are contrary to what he has been taught so teaching him with a more direct and concrete manner would be beneficial to him. WIth the older girl since she is more able to think on her own and come with a different perspective, you could deal with her in an inquiry based way by asking her questions to determine her answers and thoughts on certain subjects.
How else might you describe their thinking? How can you tell the girl wasn't in formal operations and how could you tell the boy wasn't a concrete thinker?
ReplyDeleteI like how you limit your instruction based on the kinds of thinking each child appears to be capable of, rather than attempting to push them to the next stage. What do you mean the girl is about to 'think on her own'? How would Piaget describe this?