Module 7 Blog Post 2

The boy is probably in the pre-operational stage, while the older girl is probably in the concrete operational stage. The little boy was unable to engage in two-way thinking. That is, even though the rule said that a feather would break the glass, he said the feather would not break the class because he cannot reverse the operation and incorporate the unusual rule into his answer. The older girl, however, is able to engage in two-way thinking. She can manipulate the problem and is able to engage in reversibility of the operation.

Since the little boy is in the pre-operational stage, he exhibits egocentrism, centration, and conservation. Teachers should focus on problems and activities that involve reversing operations and seeing things from different points of view. The teacher can have the boy sort a group of objects in more than one way to overcome centration. The teacher can also teach about conservation. For example, the teacher can show a student a liquid in a glass container. The teacher can then put the liquid is a larger container, and tell the boy that the liquid remains the same amount. With the older girl, who is in the concrete operational stage, the teacher can work on reasoning and abstract skills. Essays and problems that deal with more abstract thinking will help her move on to the formal operational stage. It is important to keep these techniques different because the two children are in different stages of development. The little boy would not be developmentally ready to learn what the older girl would be learning. And the older girl would find what the younger boy is learning to be too easy and not beneficial.