CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR S.C. TEACHER CADET COURSE | EXPERIENCING EDUCATION, TENTH EDITION
2. Distribute the handout “Cognitive Development According to Piaget,” and provide a
mini-lecture on its content.
3. Next, ask the participants to complete the handout entitled “Labeling Scenarios Pertaining
to Cognitive Development.” Discuss what cognitive level each person in the role-plays
demonstrated.
Answers for role play and handout:
Scenario One
(Water):
First Speaker: Pre-operational Stage (relies on what seems right)
Second Speaker: Concrete Operational (capable of conservation)
Scenario Two
(Thumb):
First Speaker: Pre-operational or Concrete Operational
(cannot do abstract thinking)
Second Speaker: Formal Operations
Scenario Three
(Stuffed Animal):
First Speaker: Sensory Motor Stage (e.g. wants to put stuffed
animal in mouth; no object permanence)
Second Speaker: Pre-operational Stage (e.g. animism; object
permanence)
Scenario Four
(Pictures of elephant
and donkey):
First Speaker: Pre-operational Stage and Concrete Operational
Stage (lack of abstract thinking)
Second Speaker: Formal Operational (abstract thinking)
4. Lead a brief, whole-group discussion about “Some Questions Critics Have Raised about
Piaget.”
5. You might want to show the video titled Cognitive Development.
PAGE I – 3 -8
Theme I: Experiencing Learning
Unit 3: Growth and Development
donkey.” Then hold up a picture of an elephant and a donkey, and ask another
person the same questions. To the first question, he/she will respond, “An
elephant and a donkey.” To the second question, he/she responds, “The
elephant can stand for the Republican Party, and the donkey can stand for the
Democratic Party.”