Option #1: Early Childhood and Toys, Essay

Remember that it is advantageous for you to complete the Critical Thinking option that corresponds to the option you selected for the final Portfolio Project, due in Week 8. If you wish to complete Portfolio Project Option #1, then also complete Critical Thinking Assignment Option #1 as well.

For this paper, you will write an essay about the games/activities/materials children use. You will name those games/activities/materials and describe which preoperational type of thinking each addresses and how each would help the child to gain one of the types of operational thinking.

1. Visit a preschool or early elementary school classroom, both when children are there (for you to observe them interacting with the toys) and when they are not (so you can look around the room).

[NOTE: if you are unable to access a site, you may complete the alternate assignment, below.]

1. Make note of all the games, toys, activities, and other materials that are in the room (including those posted on the walls and those on the toy/book shelves). These might include, for example, such things as playdough, toys, calendars, and storybooks that are available to help children to overcome types of immature thinking (i.e., centration, egocentrism, precausal thinking, nonconservation, irreversible thinking, and transductive reasoning) and to develop logical thinking typical in middle childhood (e.g., seriation, transitive inference, classification, conservation), as described in Piaget’s theory.

Alternate Assignment

If you are unable to access a site as described above, then you may submit a research paper that addresses the best practices in games/activities/materials for children available to help children to overcome types of immature thinking (i.e., centration, egocentrism, precausal thinking, nonconservation, irreversible thinking, and transductive reasoning) and to develop logical thinking typical in middle childhood (e.g., seriation, transitive inference, classification, conservation), as described in Piaget’s theory.

Describe which preoperational type of thinking each game/activity/material addresses and how each would help the child to gain one of the types of operational thinking.

Follow the paper requirements below.

Paper Requirements:

• Write a two- to three-page paper, not including the required title and reference pages.
• Format your paper according to APA guidelines.
• You must support your analysis with at least three scholarly references and these can include resources from this course.