Child Development, Learning, and Assessment
Developmental Stages
Candidates must be able to place a described behavior at the right developmental level. Piaget's sensorimotor stage (roughly 0–2) is defined by object permanence and sensory exploration; preoperational (about 2–7) by symbolic play, egocentrism, and absence of conservation; concrete operational (about 7–11) by conservation, classification, and reversibility, but only with concrete materials; formal operational by abstract, hypothetical reasoning. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding describe what a child can do with support, which is not the same as Piaget's individual discovery. Erikson's psychosocial stages (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry), Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems, Kohlberg's moral reasoning, and attachment patterns are commonly tested through scenario questions.
Learning and Assessment
Behaviorism (reinforcement, extinction), social learning (modeling), constructivism, and information processing each explain different classroom observations. For assessment, separate formative (during learning, used for feedback) from summative (end-of-unit judgment), and validity (measures what it claims) from reliability (consistency across occasions or raters). Percentile ranks compare a child to the norm group; they are not percent correct. Authentic and performance assessments, portfolios, running records, and systematic observation suit young children, who are poorly served by long paper tests. Screening identifies who needs a closer look, diagnostic assessment pinpoints specific needs, and progress monitoring tracks response within MTSS/RTI tiers.
Trap: "the teacher wants to know whether the child has mastered the unit" points to summative; "the teacher wants to adjust tomorrow's lesson" points to formative. Do not confuse a child who cannot conserve (preoperational) with one who cannot reason abstractly (formal).
Rule of thumb: a percentile rank of 60 means the child scored at or above 60 percent of the norm group, not 60 percent correct.