Final Project

Case Study 1 : Cognitive Development and Psychosocial Development

The first case study shows Ms . Arlington 's as she interacts with Noah who is a child in her kindergarten class . This particular case gives an interesting perspective on how the views of Jean Piaget and Erik Erickson may be understood in respect to situations in the real world The view of the situation that Piaget would most likely adopt is that Noah struggles to come to terms with the objects and relationships that exist within his environment . He does this through the apprehension and

br processing of new information . Erickson 's view would most likely be along the lines of placing Noah in a developmental stage in which growth is attained through meeting and overcoming crises (Piaget , 2000 ,

. 115 Woolfolk , 2007 ,

. 26 , 67

The Theory of Cognitive Development propounded by Piaget places Noah in developmental stage known as preoperational (Bybee Sund , 1990 ,

. 65 Piaget , 2000 ,

. 44 . This preoperational stage of development grants Noah the ability to make directional judgments as a method of facilitating the carrying out of basic processes toward a predetermined result . However , at this stage it is difficult for Noah to conceive the perspective of another human being , since he still retains a certain amount of egocentrism (Woolfolk , 2007 ,

. 30 . An example of this difficulty with transferring points of view is found in his conception of the bunny around the tree song ' that he learns at school . He uses this song as a mnemonic device to help him recall the steps for tying his shoes . In this way he demonstrates his ability to thing linearly as a method of getting from loose to tied laces . Yet , the assimilation and accommodation concepts taught by Piaget also find examples here (Woolfolk , 2007 ,

. 29 . Noah is already familiar with a similar song sung by his mother known as Bunny foo foo ' This song exists within his schema before the teacher sings him the new bunny song . Once the new song is being sung , it immediately triggers a response in his brain that allows him to make the connection between the two songs and then modify it to accommodate the new ideas found in Bunny around the tree ' This represents the child 's cognitive ability to adapt lessons from one context to another (Piaget , 2000 , 59

After being given an minor amount of prompting , Noah comes to the realization and understanding of individuals ' ability to fill more than just one role in life . The schema that he uses to understand the multiple rolls of his teacher is the fact that his own father is known to occupy the position of father as well as fireman . Only after this realization is Noah able to grasp the fact that his teacher might also be someone 's mother (Erickson , 1980 ,

. 39 Piaget , 2000

. 59 , 60 However , the schema to which Noah applies is not automatically stimulated as at this stage Noah finds it difficult at this stage to...