Progress in understanding cognitive developmental change mechanisms requires methods that yield detailed data about particular changes. The microgenetic method is an approach that can yield such data. It involves (a) observations of individual children throughout the period of the change, (b) a high density of observations relative to the rate of change within that period, and (c) intensive trial-by-trial analyses intended to infer the processes that gave rise to the change. This approach can illuminate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of change, indicate the conditions under which
This article outlines an experiment in which sixty-four sixth-grade students were divided into two groups: a control group, which was given novelty-reducing treatment on a field trip, and a placebo group, which was not subject to novelty-reducing treatment. Results of the experiment showed that exploratory behavior was positively correlated with cognitive learning.
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University of Washington, SeattleCarole A. KubotaRoger G. Olstad