These are the Class Session Power Point Files for my EDP 370: Applied Child Development Course: Unit 4 on qualitative differences in children's thinking. In this unit, we specifically focus on the cognitive (Piaget) and cultural tools (Vygotsky) children acquire. This course is taught as a 'hacked' course. Lectures are prerecorded for students to listen to at home, we complete activities in-class. The culminating project is the Children's Thinking Project (adapted from Penelope Oldfather & West, 1999). Thus, we integrated a series of interviews from American Public Media: Dick Gordon's The Story radio program into the pedagogy for students to develop their interviewing skills. Flipped Videos can be accessed via the course ebook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/edp-370-handbook/id705427002?mt=11

1. S
Exploring Piaget‟s
Learning and
Developmental
Theories
The acquisition of cognitive
tools through exploration of
the “real” world.

2. PMI Lesson Plans
S Plusses:
S Lessons were Interesting, Enjoyed “In Depth”; Process Helpful
S Searching On-Line; Never seen a lesson plan before
S Working with Partners; Prompts Helpful
S Liked Having a „Choice‟ of Theory; Made Schema/SRL theory “Come alive”
S Liked Opportunity to Find Lesson Related to CTP
S Minuses:
S Lessons Designed for Different Age Group; How to Adapt?
S Lesson Wasn‟t Exactly What I Wanted; How to Adapt?; Hard to Find Example
S Difficult to Choose Theory; Difficult Time Writing Up the Analysis
S Time Consuming to Do with Every Lesson!
S Interesting:
S Enjoyed Modifying
S What if the Lesson seems OK?

3. Recap:
Acquisition of Cognitive Tools
S Acquisition of Cognitive Tools Qualitatively Changes the Nature of
our Thinking
S Results in a reorganization of our knowledge
S Gives us a new worldview / “scheme” to see the problem
S Acquire Cognitive Tools in a Sequence (Piaget’s Stages of
Thinking)
S Potential to Acquire and Master Each Tool Somewhat Predicted by
Age; Thinking is Limited by the Tools We Have Not Acquired
S Object Permanence
S Symbolic Thought
S Conservation (Set of Skills)
S Identity, Seriation, Classification, Amount/Volume
S Decentration of Thought (Set of Skills)
S Perspective Taking, Hypo-theticoDeductive Reasoning

4. Agenda
S Organize into small groups to deconstruct Jasmine case
S Use „Analyzing Case Study Data‟ as a guide:
S #1: Work together to get a „feel‟ for what is happening in the
case
S What „pops‟ out? Can you give it a label?
S Are there any repeating themes?
S #2: Deconstruct the case from Piaget‟s Perspective
S Choose one of your themes from #1. Which concept helps
you to explain Jasmine‟s perspective?
OR
S What tools has Jasmine acquired? How is her thinking
limited by the tools she has not acquired?

5. Understanding Jasmine
S Deconstruct the Lesson:
S According to Piaget, why is this lesson challenging for
Jasmine?
S In what ways is this lesson developmentally appropriate for
children Jasmine‟s age?
S In what ways could this lesson be modified to meet
Jasmine‟s developmental needs?

6. Recapping Piaget:
Schema vs. Scheme
S Cognitive Science
S Discrete Framework for
Understanding
S Piagetian Theory
S Broad “Worldview” for
Understanding
S Schemas reflect
scheme =>
content, organization

7. Homework for 3/17
S Unit 5
S Read portions from CH 6
S Next week Reflection #4 (Qualitative Differences) Due
S Working on Children‟s Thinking Project
S Acquiring Consent
S Conducting the Interview

8. Quick-write: Piaget v. Vygotsky
S Over the weekend, you read about Vygotsky‟s theory of
development. Both theories are „constructive‟ in nature.
But they do have some critical differences. In what ways
do these theories differ from each other?

9. Agenda
S Lesson Plan Analysis #2: Piaget
S Introduce Vygotsky‟s Theory of Development
S Revisit Jasmine
S Merging thought and language
S Appropriation
S Internalization
S Thurs: Cognitive Apprenticeships and the ZPD

10. Evaluating Lesson Plans
S Description of Lesson (7 pts)
S Analysis (14 pts)
S Did you focus in on 1-2 concepts from the theory?
S Did you define those concepts?
S Did you explain where/how you see them in the lesson?
S Did you explain developmental characteristics you might
expect from the students?
S Modifications (7 pts)
S Was your modification consistent with the analysis?
S Consider modifying the challenge level (up/down)

11. “Hands On”
Information
Processing
Schema Theory Self-Regulation Piaget
Working
Memory
Memory
Strategies
Being
Metacognitive
Building
Expertise:
Nodes, Links
Organize
Information:
Core Nodes
Acquiring /
Practicing Skills
Work Through the
All Three Phases
Forethought,
Enactment,
Reflection
Activity /
Exploration
Acquiring Tools

12. Need a Shift in Thinking:
S Thinking in terms of stages, not helpful.
Need to think in terms of “cognitive tools”.
S Identify where students are struggling
S Design activities that help reveal the tools
they need

13. Assessing Development
S Identify the cognitive tools the child has acquired:
S Awareness of the phenomena (Object Permanence)
S Symbols to guide thinking (Symbolic Thought)
S Underlying / „Hidden‟ Principles
(Identity, Sequence, Classification)
S Can they think in Multiple Dimensions (Amount/Volume)
S Can they think from another‟s / alternate perspective?
S Can they solve this problem systematically?

14. Deconstructing Lesson Plans
S Will students know anything about this phenomena?
(Awareness)
S What symbols /mental representations do students
need to engage in this activity?
S What do students need to conserve? (set of skills)
S How might you help students become more
systematic in their thinking? To take another
perspective?
S According to Piaget‟s Learning Theory, how might
this lesson be more pedagogically sound?