{"id":502,"date":"2024-07-18T16:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T20:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/chapter\/story-part-1-childrens-so-called-errors-and-dr-js-perspective\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T16:51:02","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T20:51:02","slug":"story-part-1-childrens-so-called-errors-and-dr-js-perspective","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/chapter\/story-part-1-childrens-so-called-errors-and-dr-js-perspective\/","title":{"raw":"Story Part 1 - Children\u2019s so called \u2018errors\u2019 and Dr J\u2019s perspective","rendered":"Story Part 1 – Children\u2019s so called \u2018errors\u2019 and Dr J\u2019s perspective"},"content":{"raw":"

<\/h2>

Comic <\/h2>
\"image\"\/<\/h6>

<\/p>

*** need to recreate this comic and add alt text<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

In this opening comic story, an adult wants to connect with a child who has shown great skill in a spelling bee. The adult asks: \"What is the biggest word you know?\" But what the adult really means is, \"What is the longest word you know?\" The child interprets the adult's question as, \"What is the biggest thing you know?\" This story reveals that the child is in a concrete operational stage of cognition and is not yet ready to imagine the actual question the adult meant to ask. This child responds to the adult\u2019s literal meaning of the question. Guessing what the adult meant to ask would require the cognitive skill of formal operational thinking.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

When Jean Piaget observed these apparent 'mistakes' or 'misunderstandings' that children make, he saw their responses as reflections of the child's stage of thinking. That is, the child's responses were not so much \"errors\" but more like sneak peeks into the workings of the child's mind at that given point in time and in their development.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Each person in this story reveals the limits of their imagination and the style of their thinking. The adult is clearly surprised by the child\u2019s answer, as they were expecting something different. When we are surprised by another person's unexpected answer, we have the opportunity to learn just as much about our own minds as theirs.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

My take on this story.<\/strong> When we are surprised when \u2018children say the cutest things,' we also learn just as much about our own thinking, the limitations in our imagination, and the shortcomings in our ability to ask precise questions. When we are surprised by what someone says, it is likely that we have our own expectations \u2014 or biases \u2014 about how the question should<\/strong> be answered. Every time we are surprised by someone's response, we have an opportunity to think about our own cognitive processes and our preconceived ideas.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

In a way, it is a form of \"adultism\" \u2014 or hubris \u2014 for us to label the child's answer as an 'error' or 'misunderstanding' and not at the same time question our own assumptions, failing to account for lived experiences and individual biases. Personally, I have learned that the greatest joy and biggest reward of being curious and asking many questions is that I can experience wonderful moments of surprise, confusion, and\/or hilarity that reveal just as much about the limits or \u2018errors\u2019 of my mind as of the person I am in conversation with.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

In this story, I find the child's answer, \"sky\", to be mystical and wise. Brilliant! A true \u2018mic drop\u2019 answer. I am grateful that I was given permission to share this story with you. Now, it is your turn to look at lifespan development with a fresh perspective and marvel at the many ways we change \u2014 and stay the same \u2014 as we journey through life.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

1<\/a> A colleague told me this true story and gave me permission to share it. I have changed some details to make it anonymous and protect privacy.<\/span><\/div>
2<\/a> WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. This term is used to describe the type of backgrounds that a lot of psychological research is based on. Historically, many studies have focused on people from countries or societies that are wealthy, have high levels of education, and democratic governments. The problem is that not everyone in the world lives in these kinds of places or has these experiences. <\/span><\/div>
3<\/a> Defining microaggression: A \"microaggression\" is like a small, often unnoticed action or comment that can hurt someone because it makes a negative assumption about them based on things like their race, gender, or culture. It's often not meant to be mean, but it can still feel disrespectful or hurtful to the person it's directed at.<\/span><\/div><\/div>","rendered":"
\n

<\/a><\/h2>\n

Comic <\/a><\/h2>\n
\"image\"<\/h6>\n

\n

*** need to recreate this comic and add alt text<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this opening comic story, an adult wants to connect with a child who has shown great skill in a spelling bee. The adult asks: “What is the biggest word you know?” But what the adult really means is, “What is the longest word you know?” The child interprets the adult’s question as, “What is the biggest thing you know?” This story reveals that the child is in a concrete operational stage of cognition and is not yet ready to imagine the actual question the adult meant to ask. This child responds to the adult\u2019s literal meaning of the question. Guessing what the adult meant to ask would require the cognitive skill of formal operational thinking.<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Jean Piaget observed these apparent ‘mistakes’ or ‘misunderstandings’ that children make, he saw their responses as reflections of the child’s stage of thinking. That is, the child’s responses were not so much “errors” but more like sneak peeks into the workings of the child’s mind at that given point in time and in their development.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each person in this story reveals the limits of their imagination and the style of their thinking. The adult is clearly surprised by the child\u2019s answer, as they were expecting something different. When we are surprised by another person’s unexpected answer, we have the opportunity to learn just as much about our own minds as theirs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

My take on this story.<\/strong> When we are surprised when \u2018children say the cutest things,’ we also learn just as much about our own thinking, the limitations in our imagination, and the shortcomings in our ability to ask precise questions. When we are surprised by what someone says, it is likely that we have our own expectations \u2014 or biases \u2014 about how the question should<\/strong> be answered. Every time we are surprised by someone’s response, we have an opportunity to think about our own cognitive processes and our preconceived ideas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a way, it is a form of “adultism” \u2014 or hubris \u2014 for us to label the child’s answer as an ‘error’ or ‘misunderstanding’ and not at the same time question our own assumptions, failing to account for lived experiences and individual biases. Personally, I have learned that the greatest joy and biggest reward of being curious and asking many questions is that I can experience wonderful moments of surprise, confusion, and\/or hilarity that reveal just as much about the limits or \u2018errors\u2019 of my mind as of the person I am in conversation with.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this story, I find the child’s answer, “sky”, to be mystical and wise. Brilliant! A true \u2018mic drop\u2019 answer. I am grateful that I was given permission to share this story with you. Now, it is your turn to look at lifespan development with a fresh perspective and marvel at the many ways we change \u2014 and stay the same \u2014 as we journey through life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1<\/a> A colleague told me this true story and gave me permission to share it. I have changed some details to make it anonymous and protect privacy.<\/span><\/div>\n
2<\/a> WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. This term is used to describe the type of backgrounds that a lot of psychological research is based on. Historically, many studies have focused on people from countries or societies that are wealthy, have high levels of education, and democratic governments. The problem is that not everyone in the world lives in these kinds of places or has these experiences. <\/span><\/div>\n
3<\/a> Defining microaggression: A “microaggression” is like a small, often unnoticed action or comment that can hurt someone because it makes a negative assumption about them based on things like their race, gender, or culture. It’s often not meant to be mean, but it can still feel disrespectful or hurtful to the person it’s directed at.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":940,"menu_order":12,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-502","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/502\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/502\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/hfriedman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}