Praxis PLT Grades 7-12 (5624) Study Guide Questions and Answers

Jean Piaget Theorist who worked on the development of thinking and created the "Four Stages of Cognitive Development" Schemas (Piaget) One gains knowledge of the world around them by exploring the objects in their environment. Assimilation (Piaget) One uses the schemas (knowledge) to observe a new object. Accommodation (Piaget) One tries old schemas on new objects (Assimilation) and molds old schemas to fit the new objects. Sensorimotor Stage (Piaget) Children from birth to age 2 base their thoughts primarily on their senses and motor abilities. Ex: A child may suck his or her thumb by accident and then later intentionally repeat the action. Preoperational Stage (Piaget) Children ages 2-7 think mainly in symbolic terms (manipulating symbols used in creative play in the absences of the actual objects involved). Ex: A child is able to use an object to represent something else, such as pretending a broom is a horse. Concrete Operational Stage (Piaget) Children ages 7-11 think in logical terms. They are not very abstract. At this stage, children need hands-on, concrete experiences to manipulate symbols logically. They must perform these operations within the context of concrete situations. Ex: A child has one friend who is rude, another friend who is also rude, and the same is true for a third friend. The child may conclude that friends are rude. Formal Operational Stage (Piaget) Children ages 11-15 develop abstract and hypothetical thinking. They use logical operations in the abstract rather than the concrete. Children at this stage are capable of metacognition. Not all children move successfully to the formal operational stage.