Interview/Observation Assignment – Preschoolers’ Thinking.

Interview/Observation: Animism and artificialism in preschoolers’ thinking Review information concerning aspects of children’s early cognitive development and Piaget’s preoperational and concrete operational stages (on pp. 142-147 of your text). Then, talk with two or more preschoolers (between 3 and 5 years of age). Devise your own questions, aimed particularly at determining the extent to which animism and artificialism (see pp 145, 146) characterize the children’s thinking. Using open-ended questions (“Tell me about . . . “, “How does your teddy . . . “, “Can you show me . . . . “, etc. will get you more of the information you are looking for than questions that yield a “yes” or “no” answer. In a short 2-3 page report describe your questions and the children’s answers, noting differences between the responses of different children (and their ages). Attempt to interpret their responses. Did children you interacted with show animism or artificialism in their conversations? Do you find any differences between these children’s responses (perhaps related to their age differences?) and those of the children reported in your text? If so, why do you think that might be? Submit your 2-3 page double-line spaced report of your interviews and observations as an MSWord file on the submissions tab on the course homepage. (Carefully edit your writing before submission).