This is Emma. She is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. Emma would like to be a princess when she grows up. Emma is performing at grade level in Mr. Byers' 3rd grade classroom and her brain is developing and maturing at the normal rate for a child of her age. At age 8, she is in the stage of cognitive development that Jean Piaget described as the Concrete Operational Stage. She is beginning to develop the ability to use logic in concrete ways, and learn to think abstractly. 

Some of the skills she is beginning to learn are the following:

Conservation: Objects can change in appearance, size, or volume, but remain the same.

Identity: Objects remain the same if nothing is added or taken away.

Compensation: A change in one direction can be offset by a change in another direction.

Reversibility: Ability to mentally walk through a series of steps and then reverse those steps.

Classification: Ability to group objects in accordance with a particular characteristic.

Seriation: Arranging objects in order based on their size, weight, or volume.

Emma is beginning to operate within a "hands-on" approach to logical thinking using concrete objects to understand the world. 

To assist her learning in this developmental stage of cognitive development, Mr. Byers is providing her with many supports. When teaching math, Emma is using manipulatives for adding and subtracting. When learning about area in math, Mr. Byers had her and the other students measure two classrooms of different sizes. He used a 3-dimensional model of the solar system when teaching her about the planets during science. Using concrete props and visual aids is very important for Emma in her learning at this time in her life.

In addition to developing cognitively, Emma is growing morally. She is developing a sense of right and wrong. Since she is no longer stuck in an egocentric stage of development and is beginning to see the world from the viewpoint and perspective of others, she is developing a theory of mind; that others have their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences too that may be different from hers. Also, that others have intentions. She does not get angry    

when someone accidentally bumps into her. She understands it was an accident. She is better able to assess the intentions of others. Now that she understands others' intentions better and knows that other children have their own thoughts and feelings too different from her own, she is learning how to cooperate with others, share, and even resolve conflicts. She says "sorry" when she hurts another child's feelings. Emma is moving from Kohlberg's preconventional stage of moral  

reasoning, one where judgment is based solely on her own needs and feelings, to a more conventional stage, where the expectations of society (e.g., classroom expectations) and rules are being considered. She is learning that being good means being nice to others and that it is important to follow Mr. Byers' rules in the classroom. At the age of 8, Emma is also moving beyond a sense of fairness involving distributive justice, where dividing and sharing materials is based on equality, to a stage of moral 

reasoning based on benevolence. She now understands that some kids may get more time or other things from the teacher  based on merit (they did better or worked harder) and special needs. She is moving beyond a sense that justice involves equal treatment for all to an appreciation of equity and special needs. There is more to morality than fairness. Mr. Byers can facilitate Emma's moral development within the classroom, by going over class expectations and rules every day and by creating a moral climate and class 

culture that establishes mutual respect, warmth, and consistent application of the class rules. He can emphasize the importance of following the rules, cooperating, being nice, and sharing with others, and being fair and consistent with positive reinforcement for following the rules and consequences for breaking the rules.

This is Fred. Fred is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. He would like to be a fireman when he grows up. Fred is cognitively delayed and is performing below his expected grade level as a result. Fred is still in Jean Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development, which usually typifies children that are younger than Fred (around ages 2 to 7). At this stage, Fred is still very egocentric and cannot see things from another person's point of view. He assumes everyone sees the world from his vantage point and single point of view. 

He cannot step into his sister's shoes and understand how she felt when he broke her toy. Mr. Byers is helping him gain perspective and develop empathy by asking Fred questions to use his imagination to try to understand other people's perspective. How would Fred like to be treated and how would he feel if his sister broke his toy? This is also helping Fred understand the value of rules. At this stage of development Fred has also not developed reversible thinking; the ability to think logically in one direction. He cannot think backwards or retrace his 

steps. If he were to cup up a piece of paper into little papers, he would not know how to tape them back together, reversing the steps in the task. He would not understand the principle of conservation, that the number of something remains the same even if its appearance has changed. In this case, that even though the paper has been cut up into little papers, it is still the same amount of paper. He has great difficulty in decentering, considering more than one aspect of a situation at the same time,  

freeing himself from his immediate perception of how the world appears. If he were shown two identical glasses of water, agreeing that both contain the same amount of water, but then one of the glasses were poured into a tall, skinny glass, he would think that there was now more water in this new glass because it is taller. He is centering on only one aspect of the situation, height, and cannot decenter to understand that it really is still the same amount of water. Mr. Byers would do well to provide Fred supports in his current stage

of preoperational cognitive development. He should give Fred concrete props and visual aids whenever possible. For example, when using words such as part, whole, or one-half, Mr. Byers should physically demonstrate by showing and cutting a pizza or piece of fruit. As with Emma, let Fred use manipulatives, sticks, or rocks to add and subtract. Mr. Byers should also give him hands-on projects that will help him build more complex skills as he moves on to the concrete-operational stage. 

Perhaps allowing Fred to construct words with alphabetic refrigerator magnets or cut-out letters would be of great help with this. Also, since language is rapidly developing for Fred in this stage of development, Mr. Byers should provide a range of experiences, such as field trips like going to the library for Fred to expand his learning of concepts and language. Storytelling should be encouraged. Mr. Byers should give Fred words to help describe what Fred is doing, seeing, experiencing, feeling, etc.

Due to Fred's slow cognitive development, Fred is also developing slowly in the moral domain. His egocentrism is preventing him from being able to adequately develop a theory of mind and perspective-taking ability. Lacking the ability to understand that others have thoughts and feelings different from him and their own intentions, he does not share or cooperate with others. Fred is currently stuck at the preconventional stage of moral reasoning, where judgment is based solely on his own needs, wants, and perceptions. 

He likes to say "Mine!" a lot. He obeys classroom rules only to avoid punishment and not get in trouble. Mr. Byers once asked him why it is wrong to cheat, and he responded by saying "Because you might get caught." He is clearly stuck at an immature level of moral reasoning. However, he is beginning to develop a sense of fairness and distributive justice based on equality. When his friend, Javier, received an extra Jolly Rancher, Fred shouted "He got more than me! That's not fair!" While his moral development as to

his sense of fairness is encouraging, Fred has some maturing to do with his moral reasoning. Mr. Byers can assist Fred's moral growth with an external rewards system for positive behaviors and discouraging negative behaviors. A token economy whereby rewards can be exchanged for prizes at Mr. Byers' "store" would be a good idea for children like Fred. Mr. Byers should also model examples of good moral behavior helping Fred to internalize these behaviors as his own and integrating moral values into Fred's sense of self.