Activity Analysis: Preconceptual Thinking

Improved Essays
Activity 4.8

For this activity I worked with S., a 23-month-old girl, and J. a 14-month-old boy. For both children, the activity was held inside S’s home, in a quite corner of her living room. The materials used were three cloth napkins, a sparkly bouncy ball, and a jewelry box. First, I worked alone with S., and then I worked alone with J.

Working with S.

I showed the ball to S. and then hid it under the first napkin. I asked her where did the ball go. She picked up the second napkin, saw that the ball wasn’t underneath it and then put it down. Then she picked up the first napkin and took the ball from underneath it. I placed the ball underneath the first napkin three more times, and she looked under the first napkin first, every
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seems to have found the ball through logical thinking. First, by trial an error, than by memory. However, she did not understand at first that the ball could be inside the box. Thus, I believe she would fall under the preoperational stage of Piaget’s theory. This stage is subdivided into two groups: preconceptual thinking (or symbolic function) and intuitive thinking. I believe S. fall into the preconceptual thinking because she seems to be using transductive reasoning, which is a characteristic of the preconceptual thinking substage. Transductive thinking is when someone reasons by drawing a relationship between separate events. These deductions can lead to correct conclusion, but it is not guaranteed to do so. S. seems to have used logical thinking to find the ball in the jewelry box, but she appears to have draw her conclusion from her previous experience of looking for the ball under the napkins. She knew that the ball was “hiding” and that she had to remove an item to find it. In the first case, she first had to remove a napkin. In the second instance, she had to remove the lead of the jewelry box. Thus, it looks like S. falls into the preconceptual thinking subcategory of the preoperational stage of Piaget’s …show more content…
I showed the ball to J. and hid it under the first napkin. I asked him where did the ball go. He picked up the third napkin, but forgot all about the ball and wanted to play with the napkin. I did this a second time, and he picked up the first napkin and found the ball. On the third time, he once again picked up the third napkin and forgot about the ball. I then moved the ball from under the first napkin to under the second napkin. Once again I ask him where did the ball go. J. picked up the second napkin and took the ball. I then place the ball under the third napkin. J. is not interested in playing anymore and walks away. I place the ball into the jewelry box and place it under the napkin. I ask him where did the ball go. I try to get J.’s attention and ask him where did the ball go. He simply picks up all the napkins, throws them up in the air, and walks away. When actually searching the ball, J. seems to have found the ball out of luck, not logical thinking. Thus, I believe he would fall under the sensorimotor stage of Piaget’s theory. More specifically, he would fall into the secondary circular reactions sub stage, in which children learn to coordinate their sensations. In this sense, a secondary circular reaction is when the infant tries to reproduce an event that happened by accident. As, J. seemed to have found the ball out of luck and then tried to replicate the occurrence, he would fall into this

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