1. Bobby has learned how to print his name with both a crayon and a pencil. His mother gives him an ink pen and he immediately begins to print his name. He has _________ the pen to his structures for writing.
a. assimilatedb. adapted
c. accommodated
d. structured
{Check your answer.}
2. Randall's father gives him a golf club and a golf ball. Randall, who has never seen a golf club, begins to swing it like a baseball bat, then like a tennis racquet. After a while, Randall realizes that he must swing the club toward the ground in order to hit the ball. Randall's modification of the way he swings the golf club is an example of
a. assimilationb. sensorimotor functioning
c. accommodation
d. structuring
{Check your answer.}
3. A logical problem begins with the statement, "Suppose it was possible to move backward but not forward in a time machine...." Most of the students in the class can solve the problem easily. They acquired this ability in the course of this school year. The students in this class appear to be at what stage of development?
a. Formal operational stage.b. Concrete operational stage.
c. Preoperational stage.
d. Accommodating stage
{Check your answer.}
4. A left-handed child begins going to a new school. He finds out that his new school has only right-handed desks. The child adjusts by sitting at an unusual angle in the desk while writing. This adjustment in his sitting pattern is an example of
a. preservation.b. conservation.
c. assimilation.
d. accommodation.
e. None of the above.
{Check your answer.}
Use the following to answer questions 5 and 6:
James and Maria are children of normal intelligence in Mrs. Bittner's class. Mrs. Bittner has two containers (one long and thin, one short and fat). She fills the short one with the colored liquid, then she pours the liquid (without spilling any) into the tall thin container. James believes there is now more liquid in the tall container, even though no water has been added. Maria laughs at him and cannot understand his reasoning. She says that the amount of liquid has remained the same.
5. Which of Piaget's stages is James in?
a. Formal operationsb. Concrete operations
c. Pre-operational
d. Sensorimotor
{Check your answer.}
a. Sensorimotorb. Formal operations
c. Pre-operational
d. Concrete operation
{Check your answer.}
7. Fred is smarter than Jeff; Fred is not as smart as Debbie. Who is the smartest of the three, or is it impossible to tell? If a child can give the correct answer this hypothetical question without knowing the above mentioned children but just thinking about it, that child has reached the stage of
a. concrete operationsb. intuitive stage
c. formal operations stage
d. conceptual operations
{Check your answer.}
8. It is sometimes useful to present information to learners at a level of abstraction slightly higher than that at which they are comfortable.
a. True. Only if this happens are they likely to move to higher levels of abstraction.b. False. Learners cannot assimilate information that is presented to them at a higher level of abstraction than that at which they feel comfortable.
c. False. Learners cannot accommodate to information that is presented to them at a higher level of abstraction than that at which they feel comfortable.
d. False. Equilibration cannot occur when information is presented at a higher level of abstraction than that at which learners feel comfortable.
{Check your answer.}
9. This term refers to the communication of information from one person to another by demonstrating or describing concepts or information.
a. Accommodationb. Assimilation
c. Equilibration
d. Formal operational thinking
e. Social transmission
{Check your answer.}
10. What would a constructivist theory most likely believe?
a. That individuals actively construct reality for themselves.b. That reinforcement is preferable to punishment.
c. That natural reinforcement is preferable to artificial reinforcement.
d. That information must enter the short-term memory before it can be transferred to the long-term memory.
e. All of the above are essential components of a constructivist theory.
{Check your answer.}
1. Answer to Question 1: (a) Bobby already had a structure for writing. He used that structure to make sense of the pen. This was assimilation. After he used that structure to assimilate the pen, he did not need to make any changes in it in order to print his name. That's why accommodation is not a correct answer. If the statement said something like, "As a result, he made an adjustment to the way he held the pen while writing…." that would be an example of accommodation.
Return to Question 1.Go to Question 2.
2. Answer to Question 2: (c) Randall already had a structure for swinging a bat and another for swinging a tennis racquet. He used those structure to make sense of the golf club. This was assimilation. After he used those structures to assimilate the golf club, he needed to make changes in order to swing the golf club correctly. Those changes constituted an accommodation.
Return to Question 2.Go to Question 3.
3. Answer to Question 3: (a) This requires abstract reasoning. If they could answer the question on the basis of previous experience or from watching a movie based on this theme, then this would be concrete operational activity.
Return to Question 3.Go to Question 4.
4. Answer to Question 4: (d) He had a set of structures for sitting in a desk. He tried to assimilate the new desk through these structures, but there was an imperfect fit. Therefore, he had to make an adjustment in his structure for sitting in a desk. This adjustment constituted an accommodation.
Return to Question 4.Go to Question 5.
5. Answer to Question 5: (c) James is obviously not an infant (sensorimotor). However, he is incapable of doing mental operations. That is, he cannot mentally manipulate the information that is right there in front of him. Since he cannot yet do mental operations, he is pre-operational.
Return to Question 5.Go to Question 6.
6. Answer to Question 6: (d) Maria is performing mental manipulations on the information that is right there in front of her. Since she can do this, she is at least concrete operational. We can tell that she is not formal operational, because she cannot understand the thinking of James. To understand his thinking, she would have to be formal operational.
Return to Question 6.Go to Question 7.
7. Answer to Question 7: (c) This is a classical description of very simple formal operational thinking. If the child knew the children in real life and could recall them from memory or if he had to rely on diagrams to answer the question, then he would be concrete operational.
Return to Question 7.Go to Question 8.
8. Answer to Question 8: (a) This is a true statement of Piaget's theory. It implies that learners must not only assimilate information but also make accommodations if learning is to take place.
Return to Question 8.Go to Question 9.
9. Answer to Question 9: (e) This definition is taken directly from the textbook.
Return to Question 9.Go to Question 10.
10. Answer to Question 10: (a) The basic component of all constructivist theories is that learners actively construct their own learning for themselves. Some constructivists may believe some of the other statements, but (a) is essential to all constructivists.
Return to Question 10.