Author Question: Describe what the typical elementary school age child can and cannot do with respect to logical ... (Read 109 times)

swpotter12 · **on:** Jun 20, 2018

Describe what the typical elementary school age child can and cannot do with respect to logical thinking and storing information in memory.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Describe the four claims that provide a common framework for all variations of constructivism.

What will be an ideal response?

atrochim · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The typical elementary grade student is in Piaget's concrete operational stage and so can understand and carry out tasks that are based on such forms of logic as class inclusion, seriation, conservation, and symbolic representation. But their ability to think logically is limited to tasks that involve or refer to real, tangible objects and ideas. They cannot, for example, understand the hidden meaning behind such abstract language forms as sarcasm, metaphor, or allegory. Elementary grade students have excellent recognition memory and short-term memory. But their ability to employ such advanced memory skills as elaboration and organization is limited. When asked to sort pictures into categories, for example, they create fewer and more idiosyncratic categories than do older children.

Answer to Question 2

On pages 212-213 of the text, the constructivist view of knowledge is discussed. The first claim of constructivist views is that all meaningful knowledge is actively constructed, at least to some degree, by each individual based on existing knowledge and personal experience. The second claim is that one person's knowledge is never identical to that of another because knowledge creation is the result of how people interpret experiences, and that interpretation is influenced by such characteristics as age gender, race, ethnic background, and knowledge base. In addition, our understanding of any idea or set of ideas is influenced by the discussions and debates that we have with others. The third claim is that self-regulated learning is the basis of meaningful learning because it allows the learner to be an active and somewhat autonomous participant in the learning process rather than a passive recipient of someone else's knowledge. The fourth claim is that meaningful learning is more likely to occur when students are provided with realistic material and tasks so they can see how what is learned in the classroom is relevant to life outside the classroom.