Mrs. Solomon gives each of her third graders four wooden squares ...

[ssal]

Mrs. Solomon gives each of her third graders four wooden squares (each 1 by 1) and a piece of poster paper. They identify the wooden pieces as squares and conclude that they're all the same size. She has them put the squares together to form a larger square (2 x 2) and to draw a line around the larger square. They remove the wooden squares, and she asks them how much space the wooden pieces covered and leads them to conclude, four squares. She asks them what they call the space and introduces the term area. She then tells them they have an area of four squares. To reinforce the idea, she then asks them what the area of two blocks is and helps them to conclude, two squares.
   Based on this information, which of the following is the best assessment of the developmental appropriateness of Mrs. Solomon's teaching of the concept area?
 
  a. Her instruction was developmentally inappropriate, because she shouldn't have told them they had an area of four squares.
  b. Her instruction was developmentally inappropriate, because she should have also used a wooden space to put the squares on instead of poster paper.
  c. Her instruction was developmentally appropriate, because the students had concrete illustrations of both area and square.
  d. Her instruction was developmentally appropriate, because she reinforced the concept through teacher direction.

Question 2

According to Piaget, which of the following would be the best solution to Mrs. Green's problem?
 
  a. Describe the process of the change in molecular motion between a liquid and solid in more detail, so they see the difference.
  b. As a classroom activity, have the students observe some ice cubes as they're allowed to melt, and then describe what they see.
  c. Have them carefully read the explanation in their texts and then discuss the meaning of the text description.
  d. Have the students observe ice cubes as they're allowed to melt, and show them a model illustrating the molecular motion of the substance in each state.

[T4T]

Answer to Question 1

c

Answer to Question 2

d