We present three studies exploring 2- to 4-year-olds' imitation on witnessing a model whose questionable tool use choices suggested her untrustworthiness. In Study 1, children observed the model accidentally select a physically optimal tool for a task and then intentionally reject it for one that was functionally nonaffordant. When asked to…

Imitation of people on educational television is a potential way for very young children to learn new skills. Although toddlers in previous studies exhibited a "video deficit" in learning, 24-month-olds in Study 1 successfully reproduced behaviors modeled by a person who was on video as well as they did those modeled by a person who was present in…

Proposes a cognitive theory of imitation based on Piaget's interpretations in which imitation is considered one form of overall cognitive functioning instead of a special mechanism for response acquisition. Other theories of imitation, and relevant empirical literature are reviewed and reinterpreted from the cognitive perspective. (DP)

States that puzzles are an important tool in helping children engage in the problem-solving process. Claims that children are interested in puzzles because they can be active as observers, problem solvers, and learners, with little or no assistance from adults and others. Defines nine characteristics of good puzzle-making situations. (MOK)

Forty-five children drawn equally from nursery school, kindergarten, and first grade were administered a nonverbal imitation task, a production task, a comprehension task, and a verbal imitation task. The results of the four tasks support the Temporal Complexity Hypothesis, which states that the components of temporality--order among events (O),…

This review of literature on children's learning focuses on the following seven subject areas: (1) Infant learning, particularly studies of conditioning and individual differences in infants, (2) New perspectives on Piaget, reviewing studies where conservation and transitive inferences have been taught to young children, (3) Language and…

The relationship of age and developmental differences to modeling and motor skill development were examined. Comparisons of the observational learning patterns of four- and five-year-old children and of seven- and eight-year-olds suggest that their physical and cognitive capacities call for different instructional strategies. (Author/PP)

Appraises the respective contribution of initial competence and of imitation of modeled response in the observational learning of conservation among first grade children. (HOD)