Olivia Rossbach

August 27, 2013

PSC 220 Case Study 2 Chap. 2

1. Drawing on Piagets theory which focuses on a childs cognitive development throughout

learning 4 stages, Cindy was able to understand Animal Farm and the symbolism of animals to
real people because using accommodation, she was able to adjust her knowledge schema to
new information given in the book in addition to using transitivity to identify relationships
between some of the animals and the Soviet Union, or communists. Because of her age, she
would be classified in the Formal Operational Stage where adolescents reason in more abstract,
idealistic and logical ways instead of thinking in concrete ways for example just thinking the
book was able farm animals.
2. In contrast, drawing on Piagets theory again, Lucy was unable to understand the book because
she was unable to get past the symbolism of the animals in the book representing the czars and
communists. Perhaps her prefrontal cortex, involved in reasoning, is not as developed as
Cindys.
3. To help Lucy understand the book, Mr. Johnson could use a constructivist approach to patiently
explain the concepts in a language that Lucy can understand and answer any questions she has.
This approach believes that students learn best by making discoveries, reflecting and discussing
them. Once she understands Mr. John can ask that she provide examples showing she fully
understand so that afterwards, she can organize the information and do her book report.
4. Furthermore, in order for Lucy to not feel like she had to rush through the book, Mr. Johnson
could have presented this assignment

5. Cindy is operating in the final stage of Piagets cognitive development stages, or the Formal
Operational Stage, which emerges at ages 11 and continues to early adulthood. This stage is
where Cindy moves beyond reasoning only about concrete experiences and begins thinking in
more logical ways to explain and understand the symbolism of the animals relating to
communism.
6. However, Lucy could be operating in the Formal Operational Stage as well because of her age;
she does not understand the symbolism of the story and is not able to understand Cindys
perspective, which is unlike her own. Because she is unable to reason logically and combine
relationships in the book between the animals and the soldiers, I believe Lucy has not totally
reached the Formal Operational Stage, like Cindy.