1. Discuss the following issues.

1. Define and distinguish between psychoanalytic and cognitive theories.

2. Compare and contrast assimilation and accommodation. Give examples of the two processes.

3. Give example which justify that assimilation and accommodation operate in newborns' life.

4. What experiences in your own life provide examples of Piaget's concepts of assimilation and accommodation.

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2. Write a report on your observations of a child that displays accommodation and assimilation.

Follow the plan:

• INTRODUCTION (Who is the report addressed to? What is the aim of the research? (Describe the subject who is under the research (age, setting) and the method used in the experiment.)

• MAIN BODY (Describe the behavior shown by the child during the research, both at the beginning and at the end).

• CONCLUSION (Comment on the results).

UNIT 6 LEAD-IN

1. Read the following nouns and give their equivalents in Russian.

view	patterns	term
steps	images	seeing
reasoning	drawings	possibility
coordinating	equation	hearing
ability	understanding	circumstance

2. Select the appropriate word from the list and write in a space adjacent to the definition.

1. Figure; form; reflection; picture; likeness;

embodiment.

2. Act of seeing, act of perceiving through the eyes;

vision, sense of sight.

3. A process of drawing conclusions, process of

making inferences through logical thinking.

4. Making equal; equally balanced state.

5. Perception of sound; act of listening.

6. A stage in a process.

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7. Plans, blueprints; graphic displays of buildings

and their parts.

8. A future prospect or potential; capability of

existing or happening or being true.

9. Power, capacity, capability; skill, talent, aptitude,

mental skill or physical power of a person to do something.

10. A sample; model, ideal; form, mold; shape,

configuration.

11. A name, call, designate.

12. An opinion, an outlook.

13. Organizing, systemizing, arranging, harmonizing.

14. Act of perceiving (an idea or situation) mentally

15. A condition that accompanies or influences some

event or activity.

3. Read the following adjectives and give their equivalents in Russian.

age-related advanced formal approximate

different abstract distinct operational

symbolic internalized intuitive mental

sensory deductive reflexive necessary concrete

4. Match the adjectives given above to the nouns from Ex. 1. Make as many phrases as possible.

5. Read the following verbs and give their equivalents in Russian.

to consist to last to lack to replace

to mean to represent to perform to imagine

to complete to entertain

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6. Match the verbs given above to the phrases from Ex. 4.

7. Form adverbs using -ly, -ally.

distinct- different- approximate- formal-

reflexive- symbolic- mental- abstract-

intuitive- necessary-

8. Find the verbs which can be described by the adverbs formed above (see Ex. 5).

READING

1. Read Text 6 and mark the following sentences 1-5 J (true) or F (false).

1. According to Piaget, the four stages which we go through in understanding the world are not related with age.

2. Advance in understanding depends on the amount of information gained by a child.

3. A child's cognition in one stage differs qualitatively from his cognition in another.

4. During the first stage infants coordinate only physical motoric actions.

5. Children start representing the world symbolically during the third Piagetian stage.

6. In the second stage children can't perform internalized mental actions.

7. Individuals start thinking in more abstract and logical terms in early and middle adolescence.

TEXT 6 Piaget believed that we go through four stages in understanding the world. Each of the stages is age-related and consists of distinct ways of thinking.

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Remember, it is the different way of understanding the world that makes one stage more advanced than another, knowing more information does not make the child's thinking more advanced, in the Piagetian view. This is what Piaget meant when he said the child's cognition is qualitatively different in one stage compared to another. What are Piaget's four stages of cognitive development like?

The sensorimotor stage, which lasts from birth to about 2 years of age, is the first Piagetian stage. In this stage, infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (such as seeing and hearing) with physical motoric actions - hence the term sensorimotor. At the beginning of this stage, newborns have little more than reflexive patterns with which to work. At the end of the stage, 2-year-olds have complex sensorimotor patterns and are beginning to operate with primitive symbols.

The preoperational stage, which lasts from approximately 2 to 7 years of age, is the second Piagetian stage. In this stage, children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings. Symbolic thought goes beyond simple connections of sensory information and physical action. However, although preschool children can symbolically represent the world, according to Piaget, they still lack the ability to perform what Piaget calls "operations" -internalized mental actions that allow children to do mentally what they previously did physically.

The concrete operational stage, which lasts from approximately 7 to 11 years of age, is the third Piagetian stage. In this stage, children can perform operations, and logical reasoning replaces intuitive thought as long as reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples. For instance, concrete operational thinkers cannot imagine the steps necessary to complete an algebraic equation, which is too abstract for thinking at this stage of development.

The formal operational stage, which appears between the ages of 11 and 15, is the fourth and final Piagetian stage. In this stage, individuals move beyond the world of actual, concrete experiences and think in abstract and more logical terms. As

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words and images an understanding reason logically logical ways

part of thinking more abstractly, adolescents develop images of ideal circumstances. They may think, about what an ideal parent is like and compare their parents with this ideal standard. They begin to entertain possibilities for the future and are fascinated with what they can be. In solving problems, formal operational thinkers are more systematic, developing hypotheses about why something is happening the way it is, then testing these hypotheses in a deductive fashion.

2. Choose the best answer a, b or c.

1. Children adapt their thinking to include new ideas because...

1. they fail to understand new information.

2. additional information helps to understand the world.

3. too much information is poured to their minds.

2. A little girl who uses a heavy hammer for the first time and adjust her strikes reveals...

1. assimilation.

2. incorporating new information.

3. accommodation.

3. During the sensorimotor stage infants have...

1. only reflexive patterns.

2. only sensory experiences.

3. complex sensorimotor patterns. 4.6-year-old children...

1. are able to think symbolically.

2. are able to perform internalized mental actions.

3. are able to develop hypotheses in a deductive fashion.

3. Choose the correct phrase to fill in the sentences, then say what stage is being described in each sentence (A, B, C or D).

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coordinating classify objects symbolic thinking

reflexive instinctual action sensory information more idealistic

about concrete event and

1. At this stage a child can

into different sets. (A)

at birth to the beginning of of the world by

2. An infant progresses from

. The infant constructs

sensory experiences with physical actions. (B)

; its

3. The child begins to represent the world with

reflexes increased and go beyond the connection of

and physical actioa (C)

4. The adolescent reasons in more abstract and . Thought is more . (D)

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