Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Two and 3 year-old children's understanding of tool affordances was investigated by measuring their tool choice decisions and tool use behaviors. Children attempted six toy retrieval tasks of three different levels of structural complexity. Children were assigned to one of four conditions in which exposure to task materials varied according to the way in which the information was presented: no experience / no observation, experience only, observation only, and experience and observation. Three year- olds consistently made more correct choices and used more working tools successfully than 2-year-olds. Tool choice was affected primarily by task difficulty and age. Tool use was influenced by task difficulty, order of task difficulty, age, and condition. The observation condition was most beneficial to children, while experience was least helpful, particularly for tasks at the hard level of difficulty.

Extent

vi, 47 p. : ill.

Comments

by Amy K. Gardiner.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Amy K. Gardiner.

Identifier

FADT165940

Format

pdf

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