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Introduction to
Special
Populations
Chapter 3
Academic Diversity – Learning Styles
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Jean Piaget
• Observed and based his theory of child development on the
consistent (although sometimes illogical) mental processes
of children
• Terms and concepts
– Scheme
• Pattern of action or mental structure involved in acquiring and organizing
knowledge
– Adaptation
• Interaction between the organism and the environment includes:
– Assimilation: responding to new objects or events using existing schemes
– Accommodation: adjusting or creating new schemes when something new
doesn’t fit old scheme
– Equilibration
• Assimilation allows cognitive harmony (equilibrium/balance) when
assimilation cannot take place, the equilibrium is disturbed, and
accommodation may be employed.
• Equilibration is at the heart of a child’s natural curiosity.
• Stage 1 – Sensorimotor, (birth to 2 years); focus on
sensory exploration; object permanence mastered
• Stage 2 – Preoperational (2 to 7 years); focus on
language and symbolic expression through play;
children are egocentric
• Stage 3 – Concrete operational
(7-12 years); focus on mastering
concepts such as reversibility
• Stage 4 – Formal operational
(12 years and older); ability to
reason abstractly
© U.P. Images/iStockphoto.com/© AFP/Getty Images/© Stefan Klein/iStockphoto.com
Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Role of the Teacher - Facilitator
• Arrange the environment and
experiences according to developmental
level
• Provide real materials so child can have
hands-on experiences, many
opportunities to experiment with media
• Prepare concrete experiences before
abstract Float-sink activities -> “density”
• Encourage imaginative play, pretending
• No external rewards, intrinsic
Sociocultural Perspective
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
• People are social beings who are affected by
the cultures in which they live.
• Theory concentrates on the process of
transmitting information and cognitive skills
from generation to generation.
• Focus is on child’s social interactions.
• Views the child as adapting to his/her social
and cultural interactions
Sociocultural Terms & Key Concepts
• Zone of Proximal Development
– Refers to a range of tasks that a child can carry out
with the help of a more skilled apprentice
– When learning with others, children internalize the
conversations and lessons that help them gain skills.
• Scaffolding
– Temporary skeletal structure enabling someone to
work on a permanent structure
– In the case of Vygotsky’s theory,
the scaffolding is other people that
provide the child with the help and
lessons they need until they have
the ability to function on their own.
Archives of the History of American Psychology - The University of Akron / © U.P. Images/iStockphoto.com / © graham klotz/iStockphoto.com
Ecological Perspective
Urie Bronfrenbrenner
• Ecology: the branch of biology dealing with
relationships between living organisms and their
environment.
• Ecological Systems Theory: incorporates
psychological, social, emotional, and biological
aspects.
• Stresses the two-way interactions between parent
and child
Ecological Systems Theory
• Views settings/contexts of human development
as multiple systems within a larger system
• Terms and concepts
– Microsystem: interactions of the child with other people in
the immediate setting such as the home, school, or peer group
– Mesosystem: interactions of various settings with the
microsystem such as the parent-teacher conference or the
school field trip to the zoo
– Exosystem: institutions which indirectly affect the
development of the child such as the school board or the
parent’s place of employment
– Macrosystem: involves the interaction of the child with the
beliefs, expectations, and lifestyle of their cultural setting
– Chronosystem: refers to the influence that the changes
over time have on development
Figure 1.4 The Contexts of Human Development
Figure 12.6 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences