PSYC 140 - Module 4 Exam Questions with Verified Solutions Latest Version (2025-2026) Already
Passed
gross motor skills in early childhood - Answers throwing a ball, hopping, catching a ball, running, and
kicking a ball
fine motor skills in early childhood - Answers cutting paper, pasting, pouring, building blocks, lacing,
cutting along a line, writing a name, tracing, coloring
2-3 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: jump, throw/catch ball
fine: zip/unzip, use a spoon
3-4 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: walk upstairs alternating both feet, walk downstairs
one foot leading, throw/catch ball
fine: scissors, button
4-5 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: walk upstairs and downstairs alternating feet, catch
ball with hands
fine: use a fork, cut on a line with scissors
5-6 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: skip, ride a bike
fine: tie shoes, write numbers & basic words
brain development in early childhood - Answers further development of neurons at synapses,
myelination, synaptic pruning
preoperational stage - Answers in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during
which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete
logic
substages of preoperational stage - Answers symbolic function and intuitive thought
symbolic function substage - Answers (ages 2-4( Child continues to develop the ability to mentally
represent an object that is not present, working towards abstract thought but not there yet
At the beginning of the preoperational stage, how do children often play? - Answers parallel play (in
same room as other children but play next to them rather than with them)
What is the main function of a child's speech during the preoperational stage? - Answers to externalize
the child's thinking rather than to communicate with others.
egocentrism - Answers the preoperational child's difficulty of taking another's point of view
animism - Answers a child's belief that inanimate objects can have human-like qualities such as feelings
, intuitive thought - Answers (ages 4-7) children start to develop reasoning ability to help fulfill the desire
to answer questions
centration - Answers in Piaget's theory, the tendency of a young child to focus only on one feature of an
object while ignoring other relevant features
When a child can focus on more than one aspect of a situation at the same time, they have the ability to
__________. - Answers decenter
conservation - Answers the understanding that physical properties such as mass, volume, and number
remain the same despite changes in appearance
Centration prevents _______. - Answers conservation
What features of Piaget's theory have been influential in how teachers are trained to work with young
children? - Answers • Teachers should be aware of a child's readiness to learn (don't rush)
• Learning through exploring the environment (discovery learning)
• Recognize individual differences in learning, don't compare to national norms but rather compare
current progress to previous development
Lev Vygotsky - Answers emphasized that cognitive development always occurs in a social context and
with collaborative learning; zone of proximal development; scaffolding
zone of proximal development - Answers the difference between what children can do with assistance
and what they can do alone
scaffolding - Answers Adjusting the support offered by a teacher to fit the child's current level of
performance
Contrast Piaget's and Vygoysky's theories of education. - Answers • For Piaget, language is seen as
secondary to action, i.e., thought precedes language. Vygotsky argues that the development of language
and thought go together and that the origin of reasoning is more to do with our ability to communicate
with others than with our interaction with the material world.
• Piaget believed cognitive development follows universal stages while Vygotsky believed it is
dependent on social context with no stages.
Compare Piaget's and Vygoysky's theories of education. - Answers Both theories view children as
actively constructing their own knowledge of the world; they are not seen as just passively absorbing
knowledge. They also agree that cognitive development involves qualitative changes in thinking, not
only a matter of learning more things.
gender vs. sex - Answers Gender refers to the social dimensions of being male or female. One's sex
refers to biological dimensions.
Passed
gross motor skills in early childhood - Answers throwing a ball, hopping, catching a ball, running, and
kicking a ball
fine motor skills in early childhood - Answers cutting paper, pasting, pouring, building blocks, lacing,
cutting along a line, writing a name, tracing, coloring
2-3 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: jump, throw/catch ball
fine: zip/unzip, use a spoon
3-4 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: walk upstairs alternating both feet, walk downstairs
one foot leading, throw/catch ball
fine: scissors, button
4-5 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: walk upstairs and downstairs alternating feet, catch
ball with hands
fine: use a fork, cut on a line with scissors
5-6 years gross & fine motor skills - Answers gross: skip, ride a bike
fine: tie shoes, write numbers & basic words
brain development in early childhood - Answers further development of neurons at synapses,
myelination, synaptic pruning
preoperational stage - Answers in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during
which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete
logic
substages of preoperational stage - Answers symbolic function and intuitive thought
symbolic function substage - Answers (ages 2-4( Child continues to develop the ability to mentally
represent an object that is not present, working towards abstract thought but not there yet
At the beginning of the preoperational stage, how do children often play? - Answers parallel play (in
same room as other children but play next to them rather than with them)
What is the main function of a child's speech during the preoperational stage? - Answers to externalize
the child's thinking rather than to communicate with others.
egocentrism - Answers the preoperational child's difficulty of taking another's point of view
animism - Answers a child's belief that inanimate objects can have human-like qualities such as feelings
, intuitive thought - Answers (ages 4-7) children start to develop reasoning ability to help fulfill the desire
to answer questions
centration - Answers in Piaget's theory, the tendency of a young child to focus only on one feature of an
object while ignoring other relevant features
When a child can focus on more than one aspect of a situation at the same time, they have the ability to
__________. - Answers decenter
conservation - Answers the understanding that physical properties such as mass, volume, and number
remain the same despite changes in appearance
Centration prevents _______. - Answers conservation
What features of Piaget's theory have been influential in how teachers are trained to work with young
children? - Answers • Teachers should be aware of a child's readiness to learn (don't rush)
• Learning through exploring the environment (discovery learning)
• Recognize individual differences in learning, don't compare to national norms but rather compare
current progress to previous development
Lev Vygotsky - Answers emphasized that cognitive development always occurs in a social context and
with collaborative learning; zone of proximal development; scaffolding
zone of proximal development - Answers the difference between what children can do with assistance
and what they can do alone
scaffolding - Answers Adjusting the support offered by a teacher to fit the child's current level of
performance
Contrast Piaget's and Vygoysky's theories of education. - Answers • For Piaget, language is seen as
secondary to action, i.e., thought precedes language. Vygotsky argues that the development of language
and thought go together and that the origin of reasoning is more to do with our ability to communicate
with others than with our interaction with the material world.
• Piaget believed cognitive development follows universal stages while Vygotsky believed it is
dependent on social context with no stages.
Compare Piaget's and Vygoysky's theories of education. - Answers Both theories view children as
actively constructing their own knowledge of the world; they are not seen as just passively absorbing
knowledge. They also agree that cognitive development involves qualitative changes in thinking, not
only a matter of learning more things.
gender vs. sex - Answers Gender refers to the social dimensions of being male or female. One's sex
refers to biological dimensions.
