Chapter 5 Test Bank.
Myelination - Answer the process by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty
substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron
Preoperational Stage - Answer 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
operations - Answer -Piaget used this to refer to reversible mental actions that allow children
to do mentally what before they could only do physically
symbolic function substage - Answer Piaget's first substage of preoperational thought, in
which the child gains the ability to mentally represent an object that is not present (between
about 2 and 4 years of age).
egocentrism - Answer In Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's
point of view
animism - Answer belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action
intuitive thought substage - Answer Piaget's second substage of preoperational thought, in
which children begin to use primitive reasoning and want to know the answers to all sorts of
questions (between 4 and 7 years of age)
centration - Answer A preoperational thought pattern involving the inability to take into
account more than one factor at a time.
conservation - Answer Piaget's term for the awareness that physical quantities remain
constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance
social constructivist approach - Answer An approach that emphasizes the social contexts of
learning and that knowledge is mutually built and constructed. Vygotsky's theory reflects this
approach.