Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Strategies
Rebekah Wright
Child, Family & Society
Theresa Cruz
June 10, 2013

Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Strategies
The preoperational stage of Piaget’s theory covers children in-between the ages of two through seven. By this time the children have already reached the level of object longevity and now they will start to learn to think symbolically, which allows them to use symbols to depict people, places and past experiences. Children of these ages are capable of understanding different sounds and visual objects without being told what they are. “The representation is called a signifier and the object the signifier represents is called the significant” (Keating 1979).
I believe that acknowledge will work, because a child at this age looks for attention and to have a role model. When we as the teacher/adult lets the child know that we are paying attention to him or her, that child can feel more comfortable and feel like he or she is in a safe environment. When a child feels comfortable in their setting they tend to focus more and have a greater feeling towards learning.
Demonstrate comes in handy with children during these ages, because again children look up to the adults in their life to be their role model and guide the in the right direction. I think that demonstrating things to the children will also be beneficial because at this stage in Piaget’s theory he explains that the children will mimic and copy what the adult is doing. So if the teacher was to demonstrate and walk the child through the process I think it would allow the child to get a better grasp on the meaning and the purpose behind the activity.
Asking questions is always my favorite, because I think that it has several beneficial aspects to it. I think when asking children questions you give them an opportunity to express themselves