The Development of Comprehensive Search Skills

Abstract

WELLMAN, HENRY M.; SOMERVILLE, SUSAN C.; REVELLE, GLENDA L.; HAAKE, ROBERT J.; and SOPHIAN , CATHERINE. The Development of Comprehensive Search Skills. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 472-481. 2 studies of young children's comprehensive search skills are reported. The first examined 2Y2-, 3Y2-, and 4Y2-year-olds' ability to conduct nonredundant comprehensive searches of small lidded trash cans. The 2Y2-year-olds achieved comprehensive search only in a lids-open condition, where lids of the cans automatically stayed open (once searched), creating an external record of which locations had been searched. The 3/2-year-olds and 4Y2-year-olds were more able to search comprehensively and nonredundantly in a variety of conditions. The second study examined 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds' ability to find 5 Easter eggs hidden on a large playground. Eggs were hidden in 2 clusters as the child watched-3 eggs on 1 side of the playground, 2 on the other. Children did not minimize distance in their search paths for finding the eggs. However, they did minimize traverses of the playground, that is, they tended to find all eggs in 1 cluster before searching in the other. Results were discussed in relation to a 3-stage description of the development of comprehensive search strategies where comprehensive search develops out of (a) early forms of search persistence, followed by (b) comprehensive search based on sighting procedures, and finally (c) planned efficient searches.

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