Case Study

EDUC 776

Case Study: Cognitive Development and Conceptual Change Assignment Instructions

Overview

This assignment provides an opportunity for you to evaluate how cognitive development depends not only on brain maturation but also on stimulating physical, social, and cultural experiences and on children's natural inclinations to organize and try to make sense of those experiences. This case study assignment requires you to summarize how children continually build on existing knowledge and skills to develop more advanced thinking and reasoning abilities. Practice applying your knowledge of cognitive development supports your ability to recognize and accurately assess teaching and learning activities in the future.

Instructions

Review the case study below and answer the two questions that follow. For Question 1, respond to each part in its own paragraph (i.e., Question 1 will consist of two paragraphs – one for Part A and one for Part B). For Question 2, compose a response to the prompt in a single paragraph.

· The three paragraphs you submit for this assignment should total 250-350 words.

· Include a title page and a references section. An abstract is not required.

· Include at least one citation per paragraph to support your responses. Acceptable sources include the textbook and scholarly articles published within the last five years.

· Use current APA formatting throughout the assignment.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.

Case Study

A Floating Stone

After lunch one day, first-grade teacher Mr. Fox calls his students to the carpet area so that he can show them a "curious thing." Once the children are all seated and attentive, he puts a large fishbowl in front of them and fills it with water. Then, out of his jacket pocket, he pulls a piece of granite a little smaller than a golf ball and holds the stone over the bowl.

"What's going to happen when I drop this stone into the water?" he asks the children. "Do you think it will float like a boat does?"

Several children shout, "No, it's gonna sink!" Mr. Fox drops the stone into the water, and, sure enough, it sinks.

"You were right," Mr. Fox says. "Hmm, I have another stone in my pocket." He pulls out a much larger stone, in this case, a piece of pumice (cooled lava) filled with tiny air pockets. "When I was traveling last summer, I found this at the bottom of an old volcano. Do you think this one will sink like the other one did?"

The children declare that it will sink. Mr. Fox drops it into the fishbowl, where it momentarily submerges but then floats to the surface. "Hmm, what just happened?" he says as he looks inquisitively at his class.

Many of the children gasp with surprise. When a girl named Cora insists, "You didn't do it right!" Mr. Fox retrieves the pumice and drops it in the water again, with the same result. "No, no, that's impossible!" Cora yells. "Stones always sink - always!" She rubs and shakes her head, almost as if she's a bit upset.

(Case based on similar lesson described by Hennessey & Beeth, 1993.)

Question 1

Cora is noticeably surprised and possibly upset when she sees the pumice stone float.

A. Use one or more concepts from Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development to explain why Cora reacts as strongly as she does to the floating pumice.

B. Again, drawing on Piaget's theory, explain why Mr. Fox intentionally presents a phenomenon that will surprise the children.

Question 2

Imagine that you perform the same demonstration with high school students rather than first graders. If you were to use Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development, which one of the following approaches would you be most likely to take in helping the students understand the floating pumice?

1. Teach the concept of density and explain that an object's average density relative to water determines whether it floats or sinks.

2. Before the demonstration, ask students to draw a picture of the fishbowl and two stones.

3. Drop several light objects (e.g., a feather, a piece of paper, a small sponge) into the fishbowl before dropping both stones into it.

4. Praise students who correctly predict that the larger stone will float, even if they initially give an incorrect explanation about why it will float.

Explain why the approach you selected is the best method to use.

Resources to Use:

· The Attached Article

· The Attached Textbook Read: Ormrod & Jones: Chapter 6

· https://www.verywellmind.com/theories-of-intelligence-2795035

· https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I2hrSRbmHE

· https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WClnVjCEVM

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References

Article

Lovet, B. J., & Nelson, J. M. (2020). Systematic review: Educational accommodations for children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 60(4), 448-457.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.07.891

Yellow 1: Notice the comma after the period right before an ampersand (&). If you have two or more authors, you will always have the comma right before the &.

Green 1: The title of an article has the first word of the title capitalized, the first word after a colon (or ! or ?), or a proper noun. It is not italicized.

Blue: The journal title is always italicized and uses capitalization for all words except (of, and, the, etc.).

Pink and Gray: There should be a volume number after an article number. It IS italicized. There is no space between it and the following edition number which has parentheses and is NOT italicized.

Green 2: These are the page numbers. There should always be a range. There is a period after the page numbers.

Yellow 2: You should have a doi after your article (and sometimes a book). It can be a URL or just the doi: (if you just have doi: there should not be a space after the colon regardless of what it looks like in print).

Note: If there was only one author, the only difference would be not having a comma, space, ampersand and another author. If there were three or mor authors, you would continue with comma, space after the initial until the penultimate author where the ampersand follows.

Book

Check, J., & Schutt, R. K. (2012). Research methods in education. Sage.

Yellow: Notice the comma after the period right before an ampersand (&). If you have two or more authors, you will always have the comma right before the &.

Green: The title of a book has the first word of the title capitalized, the first word after a colon (or ! or ?), or a proper noun. It IS italicized. Our textbook is NOT edited and therefore, you DO NOT reference the chapters. You reference the book as a whole regardless of from where the information is coming in the book (books that have “Edited by….” are when you pull out and cite chapters because other authors write the individual chapters).

Blue: The publisher comes last. Notice you NO longer include the location of the publisher.

Note: If there was only one author: Martin, L. (2022). (You would not have a comma, space, ampersand and another author)

If there were three or more authors: Frazier, M., Foster, L., & Smith, K. (2022). (You would continue with comma, space after the initial until the penultimate author where the ampersand follows).

Citations

Narrative Citation

According to Check and Schutt (2012), it is crucial to understand the differences in the different types of sampling needed to avoid as much bias as possible.

Yellow: This is considered a narrative citation. Notice that you use the word “and.”

Green: The year should always be next to the name.

Blue: This is an introductory clause and should have a comma.

Note: If only 1 author: Martin (2022)…..

If 3 or more (even the first time): Frazier et al. (2020)……..

Narrative Citation with a Quote

According to Check and Schutt (2012), it is crucial to understand the differences in sampling techniques because “the type of sample contributes to the type of bias,” (p. 475).

Yellow: The quote is incorporated into the sentence; it is not stand-alone.

Green: There is a comma at the end of the quote before the closing quotation mark.

Blue: The page number uses p. (use pp. if the quote spreads across two pages)

Pink: There are parentheses around the page number.

Red: There is a period at the end of the sentence after the page.

Note 1: You should only quote when 1) there is no other way to say something without compromising the integrity of the meaning or 2) the information is overwhelmingly profound. In other words, 99% of your work should be paraphrased and cited, not quoted.

Note 2: If you are citing multiple articles or books, you use the word “and” between them. For example, According to Check and Schutt (2012) and Smith et al. (2020), ……

Parenthetical Citation

It is crucial to understand the differences in the distinct types of sampling needed to avoid as much bias as possible (Check & Schutt, 2012).

Yellow: This is considered a parenthetical citation. Notice that you use the ampersand (&), not the word “and.”

Green: The year should always be next to the name after the comma.

Blue: The comma splits the authors and the year

Note 1: If there is only 1 author: …….(Martin, 2022)

If there are 3 or more (even the first time): …….(Frazier et al., 2020) (Notice the period comma)

Note 2: If there are multiple sources you are citing, you 1) start with a parenthesis, 2) put them in alphabetical order, 3) separate each source with a semi-colon, and 4) end with a parenthesis period. For example: …….(Baxter, 2019; Check & Schutt, 2012; Smithson et al., 2022).

Parenthetical Citation with a Quote

It is crucial to understand the differences in sampling techniques because “the type of sample contributes to the type of bias,” (Check & Schutt, 2012, p. 475).

Yellow: The quote is incorporated into the sentence; it is not stand-alone.

Green: There is a comma at the end of the quote before the closing quotation mark.

Blue: The page number uses p. (use pp. if the quote spreads across two pages)

Pink: There are parentheses around the author(s), year, and page number.

Red: There is a period at the end of the sentence after the page.

NOTE: You should only quote when 1) there is no other way to say something without compromising the integrity of the meaning or 2) the information is overwhelmingly profound. In other words, 99% of your work should be paraphrased and cited, not quoted.