Development Case Study - Chapter 2

Ch. 2 Analysis Questions:




1. From the perspective of Piaget's theory, in which stage of cognitive development is Laura? Justify your response.



Just for fun I believe that one could argue that Laura is still in the concrete operations stage but likely on the cusp of change. She is able to think logically to a degree. She recognizes that air pollutants are a huge issue and so focuses her thoughts on one stream – that of gasoline. She has some deductive reasoning where she counters her teacher on his points by continually backing up her one thought (people should exercise more because they are over-weight). But she lacks abstract connective thought. She can’t see the bigger picture and the larger ramifications which keep me from placing her in the formal operations stage. But it is also true that because of her egocentric speech, she exhibits moments of preoperational egocentrism. Yet on the same point, she does use basic deductive reasoning skills to validate her claim. It appears that there is just dissonance in her environment rather than pure egocentric speech issues.



2. How is Laura's reasoning affected by her knowledge base--that is, by what she does and doesn't know about pollution?



When someone makes a claim that in order to fix pollution you should destroy thousands of livelehoods, upset the balance and economy and increase rodent infestation, they obviously are just parroting something they have heard. Is gasoline increasing pollution? Yes, of course it is. But it isn’t the only contributing aspect. Laura couldn’t argue alternative fuel or clean coal, she just says simply to eliminate that which she sees as an obstacle (just as her hair must be just so and her makeup). Things need to be simple and stream-lined.



3. By posing a series of questions, Mr. Marculescu continually challenges Laura to reconsider her thinking about the pollution problem. What are potential benefits of this strategy? Use terminology from Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories in your response.



It appears to me that Mr. Marculescu is using scaffolding. He is guiding his student by questioning her thought process to see the larger ramifications of her suggestions. He is hoping to broaden her view and representation of an issue by taking into account multiple aspects and scenarios. She needs to have a cognitive apprenticeship so she can not only acknowledge the issues at hand but be able to look from vantage points and both sides before arguing one side or another. It also appears that once Laura can learn these basic truths she will be building her proportional reasoning ability. She doesn’t see the fault in a mother biking to work, with all her children, running back and forth between school, day care and proximital distance. She doesn’t understand why the vast amount of workers in NY city commute and how destroying the transit system would raise property values passed the breaking point. As Piaget put it, she is experiencing vast disequilibrium; unable to associate her ideas with new schemes playing on the same subject. She compensates by pushing everything back to her original point and not being willing to waiver. Eventually, the more the teacher pushes the more likely Laura will be to eventually find equilibrium not merely by going back to her original proposition but by making connections to find harmony out of dissonance.



4. How does this scenario represent Piaget's and Vygotsky's conceptions of play?



Laura is debating with her teacher as though she is on the same reasoning and thinking page as he is. This is not to say that she can’t be, but she clearly is not. Play is discussed in the text where the child always believes they are above their average age, ability and behavior. Laura is clearly pitting herself as adult using simple but explicit rules that as the teacher acknowledged his interest in what she had to say, she therefore has the right to believe her thoughts to be flawless. She still can learn reasoning and strategy skills. This will likely come after she is more comfortable in the environment and the rules are clearly defined. But she will come again and again and learn through play and observation of others to act a certain way.