Developmental Change in the Form and Function of Exploratory Learning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

It is well-documented that children explore their environments to learn. What is less well-understood is how exploration itself and children’s abilities to learn from exploration changes with development. The purpose of this symposium is to better understand the mechanisms that motivate and produce exploratory behavior, as well as how they develop.

The first two papers examine developmental change in the form of exploration. The first paper examines how the efficacy of children’s initial actions allows them to access either rational and irrational strategies in their exploration, with rational strategies used more with age. The second paper looks at the role of creativity in exploration. Starting at age 4, there are positive relations between the extent to which children explore novel objects functionally and their ability to use those objects creatively in problem solving.

The next papers document children’s use of exploration to change conceptualizations of a situation. The third paper documents differences in belief revision during exploratory play. Five-year-olds change their behaviors to account for novel information, while 4-year-olds show interference from their previous belief. The fourth paper examines how children weigh the potential reward of their actions with the uncertainty of that action during exploration. Four-year-olds were used rational and irrational strategies equally in their decision-making, while making more reward-based choices increased with age.

There papers document meaningful changes in the form and function of exploration. We discuss candidate socio-cultural, cognitive, and neurobiological mechanisms that catalyze these changes, and the role that these changes may play in conceptual development.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• David Marc Sobel, Brown University

Individual Presentations

• Children’s Exploration During Play Indicates Both Rational and Irrational Strategies for Learning - Presenting Author: David Marc Sobel, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Deon Benton, Carnegie Mellon University; Non-Presenting Author: Zoe Finiasz, Cornell University; Non-Presenting Author: Yuyi Taylor, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Villanova University

• Does Exploration Fuel Young Children’s Creative Problem-Solving during Play? - Presenting Author: Natalie Evans, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Molly Schlesinger, Temple University; Non-Presenting Author: Rachael Todaro, Temple University; Non-Presenting Author: Emily J Hopkins, University of Scranton; Non-Presenting Author: Roberta M Golinkoff, University of Delaware; Non-Presenting Author: Kathy A Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University

• Belief Change from Exploration in Preschool-Aged Children - Presenting Author: Mark Alan Sabbagh, Queen’s University; Non-Presenting Author: Brooke Hilton, Queen’s University; Non-Presenting Author: Caitlin Atkinson, Queen’s University

• Disentangling Mechanisms Influencing Children’s Choices Across Childhood - Presenting Author: Nathaniel Blanco, Ohio State University; Non-Presenting Author: Vladimir Sloutsky, Ohio State University