EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Name: William J. "Billy" Butcher

1. Give a situational example which can illustrate schema, assimilation and accommodation.
Explain.

The processes of assimilation and accommodation are interdependent and crucial

throughout a person's cognitive development. Some information is taken in and some
experiences are accounted for, for instance, during the sensorimotor phase. These are the
means by which infants, children, and teenagers acquire knowledge and grow into their
subsequent stages of development.
When I was four, I lived in the province with relatives from my mother's side. My sister
and I grew up together, but we did most of it in a different place. My father was bipolar. One
night, when I was ten, he tried to smother me with a Hello Kitty duvet. My cousin put me in a
private nursery school. She was the one who took care of us when we stayed with her for
almost a whole school year. I couldn't remember exactly what I had learned at that time. But I
remember that when I was in nursery school, It somehow showed how schema, assimilation,
and accommodation work. Piaget focused on how children grow and change, but everyone has
schemas that continue to form and change as they grow up. Object schemas are a type of
schema that focuses on what an inanimate object is and how it works.
For example, I and most of the other students in my class have an idea of what a teacher
is. My general idea of a teacher might have subcategories for different kinds of teachers, like my
mother, my sister, or my cousin. I thought my nursery school teacher was my sister because my
sister taught me how to write my name. When I was three, I think she taught me every week.
But I didn't know at the time that my nursery school teacher was also a new teacher who was
more like my cousin. One of my cousins is also a teacher. That's why I thought the preschool
teacher was my cousin in my mind's picture. But I've learned that my sister and my cousin can
also teach me. My preschool teacher told me that she could be my teacher when I got to
school. I think this is an example of assimilation because it occurred to me when I had to change
or modify new information to fit into my schemas, which are what I already know. Assimilation
is a part of the process of adapting that was first thought of by Jean Piaget. I had learned
through assimilation how to take in new information or experiences and add them to what I
already knew, just like my sister and my cousin, who can also be my teacher. I think this is a bit
of a subjective process because I tend to change my own experience or information to fit with
what I already believe.
Also, one time I was looking for my nursery school teacher, and I thought I had to go to
the bathroom, but I didn't know where it was. I also saw a woman with a habit. A nun's main
piece of clothing is called a habit. Usually, it is loose, has pleats at the neck, and falls to the
woman's ankles. I called a her, and asked her to show me where the bathroom was. At the same
time, my nursery teacher saw me and heard me say that the nun I saw was the head of our
school. The school principal laughed at me and said, "well, well If it ain't the invisible lad...". She
laughed because I was so cute and she couldn't help it. She led the way to the bathroom to
show me where it was. I was able to go to the bathroom with the help of the school principal. It
was freaking diabolical for me as a child because my teacher told me that the nun I saw was the
school principal. And I had no idea that she was. Then, she taught me to treat her with respect
every time I saw her. We went back to class and kept going with her lesson. I think this is an
example of what it means to "accommodate," which is a part of the process of "adapting."
Because of new information or new experiences, this process of accommodating has changed
my ideas or schemas about the teachers. And I also developed new schemas during this
process.
Piaget's theory of cognitive development helped me understand how children learn and
grow in important ways. Through the processes of adaptation, accommodation, and
equilibration, I have built, changed, and grown my own schemas, which have helped me
understand the world around me.

2. What do you think is the most crucial issue in a child’s cognitive development? Explain.

I think the most crucial issue about a child's cognitive development is that the child's
cognitive development and the environment don't work well together. Because children expect
and need responsive relationships, their lack of them is a serious threat to their development
and well-being.
A healthy brain is built on a strong foundation that comes from a child's senses and
stable, responsive relationships with adults who care about them. If an adult's responses to a
child are unreliable, wrong, or just don't happen, the developing structure of the brain could be
messed up, which could hurt the child's physical, mental, and emotional health in the future. A
lack of consistent serve-and-return interactions hurts healthy development in two ways. Not
only does the brain fail to receive the necessary stimulation of a positive nature, but the stress
response of the body is also activated. This causes stress hormones to flood the developing
brain, which could be harmful. Serve-and-return interactions shape the way the brain is built.
When an adult responds to an infant or young child's babble, gestures, or cries with eye contact,
words, or a hug, the child's brain builds and strengthens neural connections that help the child
learn communication and social skills. When caretakers are aware of a young child's signs and
needs and respond to them, they create a place where the child can both help and be helped.
Building the skills of adult caregivers can help strengthen the relationships that are
important for children's learning, health, and behavior throughout their lives. There are many
things that can cause adults who care for young children to stop serving and being served in
return. Adults may avoid serve-and-return interactions with young children because of big
stressors like money problems, a lack of social connections, or long-term health problems.
Caregivers who are most likely to give bad care often have more than one of these problems at
the same time. Policies and programs that pay attention to the needs of adult caregivers and
encourage them to do things like serve and be served will help kids grow up healthy.
From pregnancy to early childhood, all of the places where children live and learn and
the quality of their relationships with adults and caregivers have a big effect on their mental,
emotional, and social growth. Policies in many different areas, like early care and education,
child protective services, adult mental health, family economic support, and many others, can
help children get the safe, supportive environments and stable, caring relationships they need.

3. What is the contribution of Piaget's stages of development in understanding how an

individual cognitively develops?

Piaget basically thought that people make up their own ideas about the world. In
theological terms, he was a psychological constructivist. He thought that learning happens when
assimilation and accommodation work together. To understand a new idea, children first think
about what they already know and then change their expectations to include the new
information. This means that children are always putting together new ideas with what they
already know, which causes long-term changes. Piaget was more interested in how people's
minds changed over time.
Piaget thought that people must change to fit their surroundings. He talked about
assimilation and accommodation, which are two ways that an organism can change to fit into its
environment. Assimilation is the process of using or changing the environment so that it fits into
mental structures that are already in place. Accommodation is the process of changing the way
you think about something in order to accept it. It changes the schema so that it can work
better. Piaget says that the ideal for development is a balance between fitting in and standing
out, which is also called balance. Piaget believed when there is a balance between how
children's minds work, which is an image that comes to mind when a cause serves as a
framework or foundation for analyzing or reacting to other things that are related when they
reach the outside world, children are in a state of balance that makes them feel good. So,
students have already learned what they've been taught and are sure that they can do the task
they've been given. During this time, the students are not learning or getting new information.
Disequilibrium happens when children encounter new things in the environment that don't fit
into their mental models. Students are interested in things that are out of balance because they
want to know more. Teachers should use disequilibrium to motivate their students because it
gives students a chance to change how they think.
The theory of Piaget has not been accepted by everyone. Some researchers think that
Piaget doesn't give children enough credit for what they know. When things get easier, it's easy
to learn difficult skills because the prerequisite skills have been learned. Some people have
pointed out that some of the steps in his theory don't make sense. In his research, he didn't
look at social and cultural groups. Because Piaget's tasks were culturally biased, they didn't take
into account how much culture matters. And not everyone thinks in a formal, operational way.

4. Share a school experience in which Vygotzky's theory of "Zone of Proximal Development" was
applied in your learning and how did it make an impact on your student progress?

The Zone of Proximal Development was Vygotsky's central concept, which proposes that
interacting with those who know more can foster learning and development. A more
knowledgeable person, such as a teacher or peer, assists the student. The assistance will allow
the student to complete the assignment. Lessons in the ZPD must be more engaging for the
students who attend them.
I recall how I had to adapt to a new environment and a new school when I moved in with
my dad for the rest of my childhood. The most remarkable aspect of my elementary school
years was the fact that I had the best teachers in the world without even knowing it. It brought
back memories of me when I was a recent transferee with little prior experience who needed to
be actively taught. "Think-aloud" was a technique used by one of my English teachers. Think-
alouds were a method of instruction that encouraged students like me to discuss our lessons for
moving forward with a task aloud. ZPD students used them, and I was one of them. I, and other
students, have benefited from this approach because it allows us to better make sense of the
world around us. My teacher was fluent in the Visayan dialect, so I always paid close attention
during think-alouds. She aided me in reading by using various techniques that made the text
more accessible to me. She was the kindest and most patient person I knew when I was first
learning the Visayan dialect. She was patient with me even though it would have taken me
some time to try out different approaches before I was able to come up with answers or
responses.
Meanwhile, when my instructor began asking me questions, she would gently
demonstrate and explain to me how to use social interactions. Because of her "think-aloud"
technique, I was able to quickly make up for lost time in class and other areas. My teacher was
able to figure out why I was having trouble reading, despite the fact that English is not my first
language. Trying to figure out my feelings about a book was less of a challenge for me back
then. I also recall a time when my math teacher implemented Vygotsky's theory to benefit my
classmates there. He employed a technique known as "scaffolding," which is a form of
technique that allows a student or beginner like me to tackle a single mathematical problem at
a time. I didn't speak the same language as him, so it was challenging for me to understand the
math he was teaching. He was enthusiastic about teaching me, even though I could see on his
face that describing mathematical concepts in his native tongue was challenging. When he
accomplished a task or accomplished a goal that would have been too difficult for him to
accomplish on his own, I suppose I could say that he used scaffolding. I think he was an
excellent math teacher because he made good use of language and common experiences in his
lessons, both of which are crucial for the success of the scaffolding method of instruction. He
learned what inferences were and how to use them properly through extensive practice.
In addition, my teachers would also argue that it's pointless to educate children on
topics they are already familiar with or are incapable of mastering, even with assistance.
Therefore, according to Vygotsky's theory, educators should explain, model, and employ guided
practice in the classroom in order to impart knowledge. Teachers can help their students get
through their assignments more quickly by setting an example for them. I often reflected on the
care my teachers showed me and the other students there. They'd take highlighted passages
from a short story and recite them word-for-word. For me, the asterisk-marked sentences have
been a useful guide to determining when it is time to draw conclusions. When reading a story, I
would pause and consider the type of inference that would be required of me. Because of this, I
and other students were able to acquire and perfect previously incomprehensible reading skills.
Scaffolding has helped my teachers be more efficient during that time by focusing less on the
task at hand and more on the learner's part in completing it.
According to Vygotsky, in order for students to learn and teachers to teach, they must
engage in purposeful and relevant group activities. Learning can take place in a variety of
informal and formal settings, including through play, formal lessons, or collaborative work
between a novice and an expert. Teachers must help and encourage their students' learning so
that they can become useful members of society.