CASE STUDY

Ms. Serrano, a preschool teacher of 2- to 4 year-olds, took her class on a field trip to a nearby conservation park to explore nature. Yao, a 4-year-old, excitedly ran up to Ms. Serrano, showing her a bug she found on a tree. A number of other children came up to see what all of the excitement was about. Yao had all types of questions about the bug, as did the other children. They were curious about what kind of bug it was, where its mommy and daddy were, what it ate, did it sleep, how big would it grow and many more. Then Stephen joined the group holding up a multi-colored rock he found in a creek. The children wanted to know if it was gold, , was it worth any money, and where it came from.

At first, Ms. Serrano thought the children did not know much about bugs or rocks. She thought she had considerable work ahead to teach them about science. However, she quickly realized they already knew a lot about both. Their questions suggested they understood that as a living thing, bugs had many of the characteristics of others living things, such as needing food and rest, whereas rocks did not share those same properties. The children needed specific details to fill in the gaps of their knowledge.

Ms. Serrano decided to take this opportunity to help her students learn more about biology. She held up the bug and asked, "who knows what kind of bug this is?" Soon the air was filled with children shouting out their answers. When she asked about the rock, Joshua wanted to know how big it would grow. Ms. Serrano then recognized that while children had a correct understanding of some concepts, they also had a number of misconceptions as well. There were many challenges ahead and she could not wait to get started.

Discussion1

Cognitive and Conceptual Development Ashford University Discussion

"Concepts are fundamental to human cognition because of their use in many forms of thinking, such as problem-solving, categorization, and inductive inferences" (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015, p. 186). To apply your understanding of cognitive and conceptual development, it is important to first understand the three different theories of concept development that are commonly used. Chapters 5 in your primary text discuss the following theories: the classical view of conceptual development (the ideas that all concepts are defined by a set of necessary and sufficient features), prototype or probabilistic view (concepts are compared to a prototype based on family resemblance or similarity), and the theory-based concept view (explanatory principles, such as an object's origins, are a component of conceptual representation) (Farrar & Montgomery, 2015). In this discussion, you will apply your understanding of these three theories by examining the relationship between cognitive and conceptual development. Before responding in this discussion, review the Week Three Instructor Guidance page for additional information, resources, and support.

Case Study: Please refer to the case study in the Introduction section of Chapter 5 of your textbook for this week's discussion. Address the following points as they relate to the case study:

Explain which theories of conceptual development are present in the case study. Provide an example to support your thinking.

Examine the relationships between cognitive and conceptual development that are present in the case study.

Discuss which theory of cognitive development would support Ms. Serrano's experience with her students. Support your response with evidence from the text.

Consider your current or future work setting. Provide two strategies you can use to support conceptual development in the children with whom you currently work or will work with. Support your response with at least one scholarly source.

Discussion 2

Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind is a theory of psychological and developmental roots that is defined by the ability of a child to attribute mental states such as beliefs, feelings, knowledge, thoughts, intents to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs and feelings that are different than one's own. The diagram below represents the five foundational components of theory of mind that emerge between ages 2 and 5 that were shared in Chapter 6 of our course text, Cognitive development of children: Research and application . Understanding this developmental sequence is critical in being able to support children as they grow and develop cognitively.

Before responding to this discussion, review the Week Three Instructor Guidance page for additional information, resources, and support.
For this discussion, choose one of the scenarios below to create an example for:

Option 1: Provide an example of one conceptual perspective-taking challenge a child faces when interacting with teachers and peers upon entry into preschool or kindergarten.

Option 2: Provide an example of how 3- and 4-year-old children's gullibility places them at risk.

Option 3: Provide an example of either a drawback or benefit of trying to accelerate preschoolers' understanding of deception.

Option 4: Provide an example of how you can apply Theory of Mind to understanding symptoms associated with either autism or Asperger's disorders.

Next, complete the Week Three Discussion Two Web Template by placing your example in the center of the web and including your answer to each of the questions that are posted within the outside bubbles of the web. Finally, in a three to four sentence summary, evaluate how the information in your web supports the relationship between Theory of Mind and other developmental domains. Make sure to post your summary and attach your Week Three Discussion Two Web Template to your initial reply.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers. In your responses, share one activity for a specific developmental domain that supports the stage of Theory of Mind that is represented in their example. Make sure to not only explain the activity, but also to describe how it would support children in that stage of Theory of Mind. Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. This will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.