Elementary Education Subtests I–II
Child Development and Learning
Know major developmental stages and learning theories (Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, Kohlberg, Skinner, Bandura). Match instructional expectations to physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
Curriculum and Instruction
Understand planning, differentiation, questioning, cooperative learning, and culturally responsive teaching. Be ready to select developmentally appropriate strategies for literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, and the arts.
Assessment
Distinguish formative from summative assessment, norm-referenced from criterion-referenced, and validity from reliability. Use assessment data to adjust instruction.
Traps
Questions may tempt you to choose a teacher-centered approach when student-centered inquiry is better. Avoid confusing developmental stages-preoperational children are not yet capable of conservation. Do not overgeneralize a strategy across all ages.
Worked example
A preoperational child says a tall, narrow glass holds more water than a short, wide glass. This is failure of conservation. The appropriate response is concrete, hands-on comparison, not a lecture on volume.
Rule of thumb
Match the strategy to the child’s developmental level and use assessment to inform, not just grade.