Learner development

Stages of growth and development and what they mean for teaching.

Teaching Aptitude7 questions

Major theories

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor (0–2), preoperational (2–7), concrete operational (7–11), formal operational (11 onwards). Children actively construct knowledge through assimilation and accommodation.
Vygotsky: learning is social. The Zone of Proximal Development is the gap between what a child can do alone and with help; scaffolding is the support that bridges it.
Erikson: eight psychosocial stages, each with a conflict (for school-age children, industry versus inferiority; for adolescents, identity versus role confusion).
Kohlberg: moral development in three levels: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional.

Principles of development

Development is continuous, follows a sequence, proceeds from general to specific, and is influenced by both heredity and environment. Individuals develop at different rates.

Study material

Learner development: Piaget and Vygotsky

Stages of cognitive development and the role of social interaction.

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Practice questions

According to Piaget, children aged roughly 7 to 11 years are in which stage of cognitive development?	Medium
The concept of the “Zone of Proximal Development” was given by:	Easy
According to Piaget, abstract and hypothetical reasoning develops in which stage?	Easy
Temporary support given by a teacher that is gradually withdrawn is called:	Easy
“Identity versus role confusion” is the crisis of adolescence in the theory of:	Medium

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