Study Guide--Chapter 2--Slavin (1997)			      Page 1

** Questions marked with asterisks are not necessarily answered directly in the text; you may need to expand on the information provided in the book.

1.  Why would the teachers in the introduction have benefited from knowledge of developmental processes?

2.  What is the nature-nurture controversy?

3.  How do the views of development as continuous versus discontinuous differ?

4.  How does development occur, according to Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory?  

5.  What are schemes?  

6.  How are assimilation and accommodation relate to schemes?

7.  What are equilibrium and disequilibrium important in Piaget's theory?  How can teachers take advantage of these states?  How is his theory considered constructivist?  

8.  ** Is Piaget's theory considered a continuous or discontinuous theory of development?

9.  What is thought like during the sensorimotor period of development, according to Piaget?  

10.  How does thought during the preoperational period of development differ from that of the sensorimotor period?  

11.  What does it mean to have conservation?  How is this demonstrated?  How does conservation relate to centration and reversibility?  

12.  What does it mean to be egocentric, according to Piaget?

13.  How does thought during the concrete operational period differ from that during the preoperational period?

14.  What are seriation, transitivity, and class inclusion?  Why are they considered important aspects of the concrete operational period?

15.  How is thought different in Piaget's formal operational period compared to that of different periods of development?  How is this type of thought demonstrated in the pendulum task?

16.  How do adolescents treat hypothetical conditions?

17.  Why do some researchers disagree with Piaget's view of cognitive development?

18.  How can Piaget's theory be applied to education? (See also "Teachers on Teaching", p. 40).

19.  How do the neo-Piagetian and constructivist views of development modify Piaget's theory?

20.  What are the two key ideas of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of development?

21.  What did Vygotsky say was the role of private speech?  What did he mean by the zone of proximal development?  

22.  What is the purpose of scaffolding, according to Vygotsky?

23.  How can Vygotsky's theory be applied to education?

24.  Briefly describe the conflicts during each of the stages of Erikson's psychosocial theory of development.

25.  What are criticisms of Erikson's theory?

26.  How can Erikson's theory be applied to education?

27.  What are the two stages of moral development, according to Piaget?

28.  How did Kohlberg study moral development?  Briefly describe the three levels of morality identified by Kohlberg.

29.  What are criticisms of Kohlberg's theory?

30.  How does Hoffman's (1983) theory of moral development complement Piaget's and Kohlberg's theories?