The boy is in the pre- operational stage because he was not able to think about two different things. He was focused on how a hammer is hard and a feather is soft. When asked if the feather could break the glass after he was told that the feather could break the glass, he still answered no because he was concentrating on the characteristic of a feather. The girl is in the formal operational stage because she was able to manipulate the characteristic of the feather to be able to break the glass since she was told it could. At first the girl hesitated because in her mind a feather really could not break a glass, but she was told a piece of information that stated that the feather was able to. She was able to use two- way thinking to perform a hypothesis.
For the boy I would teach with visual aids such as diagrams. I would show him how the diagram illustrates a certain piece of information and how we can use that to help predict what will happen next. For the girl I would ask her to come up with different solutions to a problem so that she is constantly thinking of new ways to solve an issue. Then she would use these predictions to test them. If one worked over another, she would be able to learn why that one worked and what was wrong about the other prediction.
I really like the idea of a diagram for the first student. I think this would be a very successful technique because a lot of students are visual learners such as myself. It is very difficult for someone as young as the first student shown to understand something like this if it is simply told to them verbally. Since the second student is in a higher stage the technique chosen for her would work really well. Rather than emplaning things to her she can use her own creativity to come up with situations on her own.
ReplyDeleteYour post was very well thought out and worded. It actually helped me understand what was happening. I was questioning my answers, but you defended your answers perfectly. I especially enjoyed how you would teach the girl. Challenging her constantly would be a great way to build her intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some form of centration appears to be happening for the boy. I saw (a bit differently) that he could not focus on the concept of 'feather' he previously held (somethign soft that cannot break glass) and the new concept of feather being introduced to him. He goes with his previous concept of feather to answer the question.
ReplyDeleteHe is able to represent the scenario without it being physically in front of him, so is there a chance he is in concrete operations?
I like your idea of making tasks more visual. Remember, Piaget said that you cannot change a child's stage, so making tasks more concrete (being visible or tangible) will allow him to think about the scenario. A word problem spoken to him would not.