1. The answer is a. At age 3, children can go up stairs using alternating feet, but still descend placing both feet on each step. By age 4, they descend using alternating feet and holding the railing. At age 6, they run up and down stairs easily.

2. The answer is c. Vision is 20/20 by age 4. Children also become more efficient and proficient in how they move their eyes to scan a page, an ability essential for reading readiness. At age 3, when asked to find the little mouse on the page of a favorite book, children initially scan haphazardly, looking here and there. Systematic scanning from side to side and up and down develops between ages 3 and 6.

3. The answer is a. They focus on only one aspect of something at a time—often the most obvious aspect—and fail to consider how several aspects might interact to produce the event. When pouring juice between a tall skinny glass and a short wide glass, they focus on only the height of the tall skinny glass in concluding that it is “bigger” and so contains more juice. They cannot account for height and width simultaneously.

4. The answer is d. Conservation refers to the ability to understand that something remains the same even if its appearance is altered and nothing was seen to be taken away or added. Because preschool children are swayed by appearances, focus on one aspect of something at a time, and have difficulty working out events in their minds, they have difficulty with conservation tasks, such as those related to number, quantity, mass, and length.

5. The answer is c. Montessori believed that at certain ages in children’s lives, they are more attuned or ready (sensitive) for certain experiences.

6. The answer is a. Piaget’s identification of cognitive stages contributed to a desire to “match the mix”—that is, to make sure that appropriate material would be available for certain ages and stages.

7. The answer is c. Syntax is how words are put together to make sentences. In their acquisition of language, children quickly learn the rules of language that enable them to express themselves in a sensible manner to other members of their culture.

8. The answer is c. Because children are rule learners, they frequently stay with the rule, even when they know the correct form, which is the meaning of overregulation. This phase of language development is commonly encountered and nothing to worry about.

9. The answer is b. Authoritarian parents aim to control their children’s behavior by enforcing absolute standards for behavior. They value unquestioned respect for and compliance with authority, and they discourage verbal give-and-take with their children. Authoritarian parents resolve conflicts through power assertion; that is, they lay down the law “or else.”