Reading Response

After reading your assigned chapters for this unit, prepare a written response to three of the following questions. Then reflect upon all the reading during this unit and share something new you learned from your reading. Your one- to two-page response needs to demonstrate your understanding of the chapter concepts. As you construct your answer, consider your area of specialization

1. Gallagher shows a group of children three candy bars. All children agree that the three bars have the same amount of candy. Then Mr. Gallagher breaks one candy bar into small pieces. At this point, some of the children still claim that the three candy bars (one whole and one broken) have the same amount of candy. Other children, however, claim that the broken bar has more candy. Using a Piagetian framework, Mr. Gallagher concludes that the children are in three different stages of cognitive development. Which stages are the three groups of children in? Justify your decision.
2. Describe at least three ways in which students in Piaget’s formal operations stage are likely to think differently from those in the concrete operations stage. Illustrate each characteristic with a concrete example of how students in each of the three stages might behave.
3. Use concepts from Vygotsky’s perspective of cognitive development to describe how you learned about Vygotsky’s theory in this class. Your response should include references to at least three of the following concepts: zone of proximal development, self-talk, inner speech, internalization, and scaffolding.
4. Identify a particular instructional objective that students might be able to achieve through one of the following approaches to instruction:

• Class discussion
• Reciprocal teaching
• Cooperative learning
• Peer tutoring
• A community of learners

Other directions:

• Label each answer to the questions rather than repeating the question.
• It is not necessary to search for other sources outside of the textbook for this particular assignment. The primary purpose is to gauge your level of understanding on the reading and to see what stood out to you.
• You need to answer only three of the four stated questions.
• Include a reflection section at the end of your assignment.

Text for assignment is Ormrod, J. E. (2016). Human learning. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.