Concept development in kids

I don't have children, but I thought it would be interesting to know
if a 3-4 year old kid would know that a brick (or something else shown
to them to be heavy by an adult) would not bounce if dropped on the
ground, and what his answer would be if you asked about dropping it on
a trampoline (assuming the kid's played on one before.) Could you guys
ask your kids one day?

-Thanks
-Todd

My DD8 is too old to ask, but my guess would be that a 3-4 year old kid's
answer would be to refuse to answer until after he/she had tried it. DD8
was and still is an empiricist.

Not an answer to your question, but an interesting anecdote, is my memory of
watching my DD play with magnets. I don't think she was walking yet, so she
would have been about a year old. We had lots of refrigerator magnets, and
she would sit and play with them. She knew that they would stick, but tried
the magnet side out a few times and seemed puzzled. They she seemed to
figure out that they only stuck with the dark side down. Later, I saw her
trying to stick them on other non-steel things in the kitchen, like the
front of the oven. Again, she seemed puzzled that they wouldn't stick.

At another time, we were sitting in a restaurant, and she was "eating"
animal crackers (mostly drooling on them). She took one and tried to stick
it to the wall. Her Dad turned to her and told her that it wouldn't stick.
She then proceeded to "stick" it to the wall with the drooled-on side, and
looked at Dad as if to say, "Nope, you're wrong."

In our family we remember it as the first of many times that her Dad told
her that something wasn't going to work and she made it happen anyway!

Dena

"Todd Smith" wrote in message
om...
I don't have children, but I thought it would be interesting to know
if a 3-4 year old kid would know that a brick (or something else shown
to them to be heavy by an adult) would not bounce if dropped on the
ground, and what his answer would be if you asked about dropping it on
a trampoline (assuming the kid's played on one before.) Could you guys
ask your kids one day?

-Thanks
-Todd

On Mon, 2 Aug 2004 08:13:40 EDT, (Todd Smith)
wrote:

I don't have children, but I thought it would be interesting to know
if a 3-4 year old kid would know that a brick (or something else shown
to them to be heavy by an adult) would not bounce if dropped on the
ground, and what his answer would be if you asked about dropping it on
a trampoline (assuming the kid's played on one before.) Could you guys
ask your kids one day?

Go read some of the educational development theorists. People like
Piaget and Vygotsky have already done this stuff and written books
about it. It's standard Intro to Education learning in Australia.

--
Cheryl
Mum to Shrimp (11 Mar 99), Thud (4 Oct 00)
and Mischief (30 Jul 02)

In article ,
Todd Smith wrote:
I don't have children, but I thought it would be interesting to know
if a 3-4 year old kid would know that a brick (or something else shown
to them to be heavy by an adult) would not bounce if dropped on the
ground, and what his answer would be if you asked about dropping it on
a trampoline (assuming the kid's played on one before.) Could you guys
ask your kids one day?

I asked my 3yo if a brick dropped on the floor would bounce. He said
yes. I don't know if he realizes how heavey a brick is. Then I asked
him if a toy I picked up and showed him would bounce if we dropped it on
the floor, and he said no. I asked if it would bounce if we dropped it
on a trampoline and he said no again. But he doesn't like to play on
the trampoline, and the toddler tramp we have at home probably *wouldn't*
bounce either a dropped toy or brick, as it's not very bouncy at all.
So, one data point, worth what you paid for it.

--Robyn

"Robyn Kozierok" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Todd Smith wrote:
I don't have children, but I thought it would be interesting to know
if a 3-4 year old kid would know that a brick (or something else shown
to them to be heavy by an adult) would not bounce if dropped on the
ground, and what his answer would be if you asked about dropping it on
a trampoline (assuming the kid's played on one before.) Could you guys
ask your kids one day?

I asked my 3yo if a brick dropped on the floor would bounce. He said
yes. I don't know if he realizes how heavey a brick is.

Things don't bunch because they aren't heavy. (Have you every seen a sheet
of paper bounch when you drop it?) Things bunch because both the thing that
bunchs and the thing it bunces on are elastic. (Elastic means that when
something is deformed, it will bounce back into sits shape.) The reason why
a brick another heavy object doesn't bunch if you drop it in mud is that the
ground deforms but doesn't bunch back.

On a trampoline, you stop buncing by flexing your knees, in effect, becoming
inelastic.

If you drop a brick onto an elastic surface, like a steel plate or a
trampoline, the reason why it bunces is that the surface deforms and bunces
back (actually, if drop a brick onto a steel plate, it will probably
shatter). (If you drop a really big steel ball unto a really big and strong
steel plate, the ball will bunce almost as high as when it started out.)

jeff

Then I asked
him if a toy I picked up and showed him would bounce if we dropped it on
the floor, and he said no. I asked if it would bounce if we dropped it
on a trampoline and he said no again. But he doesn't like to play on
the trampoline, and the toddler tramp we have at home probably *wouldn't*
bounce either a dropped toy or brick, as it's not very bouncy at all.
So, one data point, worth what you paid for it.

--Robyn

In article ,
Jeff wrote:

"Robyn Kozierok" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Todd Smith wrote:
I don't have children, but I thought it would be interesting to know
if a 3-4 year old kid would know that a brick (or something else shown
to them to be heavy by an adult) would not bounce if dropped on the
ground, and what his answer would be if you asked about dropping it on
a trampoline (assuming the kid's played on one before.) Could you guys
ask your kids one day?

I asked my 3yo if a brick dropped on the floor would bounce. He said
yes. I don't know if he realizes how heavey a brick is.

Things don't bunch because they aren't heavy. (Have you every seen a sheet
of paper bounch when you drop it?) Things bunch because both the thing that
bunchs and the thing it bunces on are elastic.

I understand that. I was making reference to the OP's point about the
object having been shown to the child to be something heavy.

--Robyn

I asked the 4 yr old neighbor boy that..he replied..."cause there's
nothin' under the trampoline and there is the dirt"..lol

~Laura~


http://community.webtv.net/Fanta_Seas/Laura