Knowledge Construction

My Student

Gender: Male

Considerations: Cool colors are preferable, a lot of visual stimulation, engaging/stimulating environment with movement is most effective in keeping his attention

Age: 3 months

Piaget

He is in the sensorimotor stage. He uses his actions and senses to make sense of the world. Play is very important and necessary at this stage. He will want to explore the ball on his own before being assisted.

Erickson

He is in the Trust vs. Mistrust stage. He needs to feel like he can rely on his caregivers in order to feel hope in the future. He is unsure about the world around him and relies on his mother and father for guidance. Having the parents present for the activity would help him to feel more comfortable and to trust me.

Vygotsky

He cannot speak at his current age, so self-talk will not occur for a while. However, he needs a lot of scaffolding because there aren't many things he can do on his own. Helping him to hold the ball in his hands and then showing him how to kick, throw, toss, etc. can all be ways to scaffold.

Other Considerations

Attention Span: Since he is so young, his attention span is about 1-2 minutes. He needs to be constantly stimulated and engaged to keep his attention.

Playing with a ball

Defining Feature: Balls can be played with and are used outdoors for recreational fun.

Exemplars: Basketball, baseball, foam ball, ball pit balls

Prototype: Sports Balls

Non-examples: Ornament, frisbee, orange

Source of Misconceptions

Correlational Feature: Many balls are spherical and round, however, not all of them are.

Overgeneralizations: He might think that all round or spherical objects are balls.

Undergeneralizations: He might not realize that a football is a ball because it is not a sphere.