A caregiver hides a rattle under a blanket on the left side of the play mat, and an 8-month-old retrieves it several times. The caregiver then hides the rattle under a blanket on the right while the infant watches, but the infant again searches under the left blanket. In Piaget's theory, this behavior is characteristic of which sensorimotor substage?

Coordination of secondary circular reactions

Primary circular reactions (repeating body actions)

Mental representation (deferred imitation)

Tertiary circular reactions (active experimentation)

A second-grade teacher is planning a science unit on how plants grow. Based on Piaget's description of children's thinking at this age, which plan is MOST appropriate?

Have children grow plants in different conditions, measure them, and compare the results

Have children watch a teacher demonstration and then draw what they remember of it

Have children memorize the parts of a plant and their functions from a labeled chart

Have children read about plant growth and then answer hypothetical what-if questions

A first-grade class has chosen to study the neighborhood bakery using the project approach. Children have shared memories of bakeries, drawn pictures of past visits, and generated a web of questions they want answered. Which activity would MOST appropriately occur in the next phase of the project?

Visiting the bakery to interview a baker and sketch the equipment

Holding an open house so families can view the children's displays

Reading a story to spark interest in possible topics for a project

Recording children's memories of bakeries on a class web chart

A first-grade teacher is introducing the high-frequency word said. Which approach is MOST consistent with research on how children store words for instant recognition?

Have children say each sound, map it to letters, and note the irregular ai spelling

Have children read said from a flash card again and again until it is memorized

Have children guess said from the picture and first letter when reading a text

Have children trace the word's outline shape in a box drawn around the letters

Child Blocks Art Library Dramatic play Writing Kai 9 0 1 0 0 Rosa 2 3 2 3 0 Tomas 1 5 2 2 0 Lena 0 2 4 3 1 A preschool teacher tracked center choices over ten days, as shown. She wants Kai to have more experiences with emergent writing. Which strategy is MOST appropriate?

Add clipboards, paper, and markers to the block area for making signs and plans

Close the block area for a week so that Kai will try the writing center instead

Send home writing worksheets so that Kai can practice letter formation nightly

Require Kai to spend ten minutes at the writing center before going to blocks

A kindergarten teacher learns that a child cannot see the board well because the family cannot afford new glasses and does not have a regular doctor. Which member of the school team is MOST appropriate to help connect the family with community resources?

The speech-language pathologist

A first-grade teacher has taught consonants, the short vowels a and i, and the digraphs sh and ch. She wants a text that lets children practice applying these skills. Which text is MOST appropriate?

A decodable book made up mostly of short a and i words with sh and ch

A predictable book that repeats one sentence pattern with picture support

A popular picture book with a strong plot that the teacher reads aloud first

A leveled book whose rich illustrations help children figure out new words

Praxis Education of Young Children (5024)

Free Praxis Education o 5024 Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the Praxis Education of Young Children (5024), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: Development & Learning, Observation & Assessment, Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Professionalism, Family & Community, Content Pedagogy & Knowledge.

Question 1 · Development & Learning
A caregiver hides a rattle under a blanket on the left side of the play mat, and an 8-month-old retrieves it several times. The caregiver then hides the rattle under a blanket on the right while the infant watches, but the infant again searches under the left blanket. In Piaget's theory, this behavior is characteristic of which sensorimotor substage?
- A.Primary circular reactions (repeating body actions)
- B.Mental representation (deferred imitation)
- C.Coordination of secondary circular reactions
- D.Tertiary circular reactions (active experimentation)
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Coordination of secondary circular reactions
The A-not-B error appears during the coordination of secondary circular reactions (roughly 8 to 12 months), when infants search for hidden objects but still rely on where they found them before. Tertiary circular reactions is tempting because it follows next, but by then infants track visible displacements and search where they last saw the object hidden.
Question 2 · Development & Learning
A second-grade teacher is planning a science unit on how plants grow. Based on Piaget's description of children's thinking at this age, which plan is MOST appropriate?
- A.Have children watch a teacher demonstration and then draw what they remember of it
- B.Have children grow plants in different conditions, measure them, and compare the results
- C.Have children memorize the parts of a plant and their functions from a labeled chart
- D.Have children read about plant growth and then answer hypothetical what-if questions
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Have children grow plants in different conditions, measure them, and compare the results
Children in Piaget's concrete operational stage reason logically when working with real objects and direct experiences, so hands-on investigation and measurement fit their thinking. Hypothetical what-if questions are tempting because they seem rigorous, but reasoning about abstract possibilities without concrete referents is characteristic of the later formal operational stage.
Question 3 · Developmentally Appropriate Practices
A first-grade class has chosen to study the neighborhood bakery using the project approach. Children have shared memories of bakeries, drawn pictures of past visits, and generated a web of questions they want answered. Which activity would MOST appropriately occur in the next phase of the project?
- A.Holding an open house so families can view the children's displays
- B.Reading a story to spark interest in possible topics for a project
- C.Recording children's memories of bakeries on a class web chart
- D.Visiting the bakery to interview a baker and sketch the equipment
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Visiting the bakery to interview a baker and sketch the equipment
In Katz and Chard's project approach, Phase 1 (sharing prior knowledge and generating questions) is complete, so Phase 2 follows with fieldwork, expert visits, and direct investigation such as interviewing a baker and sketching equipment. Holding an open house is tempting, but sharing work with families is the culminating event of Phase 3, which comes only after the investigation.

Question 4 · Professionalism, Family & Community

Activity	Description
Policy council	Families vote on the program budget and annual goals
Math backpacks	Games families play at home each week
Reading volunteers	Families read aloud to small groups in class
Sleep workshop	Session on bedtime and sleep routines for toddlers
Newsletter	Monthly update on classroom themes and events

A program director lists this year's family engagement activities, shown above. Which activity BEST matches the "decision making" type in Epstein's framework of family involvement?

A.Families serving on the policy council
B.Workshops on bedtime and sleep routines
C.Families reading aloud to small groups
D.Take-home family math backpacks

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Families serving on the policy council

In Epstein's framework, decision making means including families as participants in program governance and advocacy, as when families serve on the policy council that approves budgets and goals. Math backpacks are "learning at home," reading to small groups is "volunteering," and sleep workshops are "parenting."

Question 5 · Content Pedagogy & Knowledge
A first-grade teacher is introducing the high-frequency word said. Which approach is MOST consistent with research on how children store words for instant recognition?
- A.Have children say each sound, map it to letters, and note the irregular ai spelling
- B.Have children read said from a flash card again and again until it is memorized
- C.Have children guess said from the picture and first letter when reading a text
- D.Have children trace the word's outline shape in a box drawn around the letters
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Have children say each sound, map it to letters, and note the irregular ai spelling
Orthographic mapping research shows that children store words, including irregular ones, by connecting each sound to the letters that spell it; said is mostly regular (s and d), so teachers highlight only the unexpected ai for /e/. Repeated flash-card reading is tempting because it builds exposure, but rote visual memorizing without connecting sounds to letters is less efficient and less durable.
Question 6 · Development & Learning
For his mother's birthday, a 4-year-old carefully chooses a toy dump truck because it is his favorite toy and he is sure she will love it. Which characteristic of preoperational thought does this BEST illustrate?
- A.Centration
- B.Animism
- C.Egocentrism
- D.Irreversibility
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Egocentrism
Egocentrism is difficulty taking another person's perspective, so the child assumes his mother will want what he wants. Centration is tempting as another preoperational limitation, but it refers to focusing on one feature of a problem, such as the height of liquid, rather than assuming others share one's preferences.
Question 7 · Development & Learning
A preschool teacher observes a 3-year-old at the sand table repeatedly filling a bucket with sand, dumping it out, and filling it again for several minutes. According to Smilansky, this is an example of
- A.dramatic play
- B.functional play
- C.constructive play
- D.games with rules
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. functional play
Smilansky described functional play as simple, repetitive actions with objects or the body, such as filling and dumping, done for the sensory and motor experience. Constructive play is tempting because sand is a building material, but it involves using materials to create something, such as a sandcastle.
Question 8 · Developmentally Appropriate Practices
Child Blocks Art Library Dramatic play Writing
Kai 9 0 1 0 0
Rosa 2 3 2 3 0
Tomas 1 5 2 2 0
Lena 0 2 4 3 1
A preschool teacher tracked center choices over ten days, as shown. She wants Kai to have more experiences with emergent writing. Which strategy is MOST appropriate?
- A.Close the block area for a week so that Kai will try the writing center instead
- B.Send home writing worksheets so that Kai can practice letter formation nightly
- C.Require Kai to spend ten minutes at the writing center before going to blocks
- D.Add clipboards, paper, and markers to the block area for making signs and plans
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Add clipboards, paper, and markers to the block area for making signs and plans
Embedding writing materials where Kai already chooses to play connects literacy to his interests and gives writing a real purpose, such as labeling structures or drawing building plans. Requiring time at the writing center is tempting because it guarantees exposure, but compelled participation ignores his interests and is less likely to produce meaningful, motivated writing.
Question 9 · Professionalism, Family & Community
A kindergarten teacher learns that a child cannot see the board well because the family cannot afford new glasses and does not have a regular doctor. Which member of the school team is MOST appropriate to help connect the family with community resources?
- A.The school psychologist
- B.The occupational therapist
- C.The school social worker
- D.The speech-language pathologist
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. The school social worker
School social workers link families with community resources such as health care, vision programs, and financial assistance, and they support families facing barriers that affect learning. The school psychologist is tempting because the psychologist is also a support professional, but that role centers on assessment, behavior, and mental health consultation rather than connecting families with services.
Question 10 · Content Pedagogy & Knowledge
A first-grade teacher has taught consonants, the short vowels a and i, and the digraphs sh and ch. She wants a text that lets children practice applying these skills. Which text is MOST appropriate?
- A.A predictable book that repeats one sentence pattern with picture support
- B.A popular picture book with a strong plot that the teacher reads aloud first
- C.A decodable book made up mostly of short a and i words with sh and ch
- D.A leveled book whose rich illustrations help children figure out new words
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A decodable book made up mostly of short a and i words with sh and ch
Decodable texts are written so that most words use the letter-sound patterns children have been taught, giving them practice applying phonics in connected text. A predictable book is tempting because beginning readers can read it successfully, but children can rely on memory of the pattern and pictures rather than decoding.

Child	Blocks	Art	Library	Dramatic play	Writing
Kai	9	0	1	0	0
Rosa	2	3	2	3	0
Tomas	1	5	2	2	0
Lena	0	2	4	3	1

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