| Abstract: | This study investigated different types of planning skills in 4- and 5-year-olds. The planning tasks consisted of three search tasks and two clustering tasks. Each task was measured in three ways: by a planning score, the Bronson task attack strategy measure of ongoing behaviors, and by self-report. A varimax rotation of the scores in a factor analysis produced the same two factors for both the planning scores and the Bronson task attack strategy scores. One factor was formed by tasks that allowed for a variety of open-ended solutions, but also had heavy information-processing demands. Tasks that allowed for only one task-imposed solution, but with lighter information-processing demands, formed the second factor. Two of the primary planning tasks used in prior research with preschoolers did not load on the same factor, the grocery store search task (Gauvain & Rogoff, 1989) and the Wellman search task (Wellman, Fabricus, & Sophian, 1985), which suggests that these tasks measure different types of planful search. Self-report data indicated that children were not able to adequately describe their plans. In addition, the one task that required semantic clustering was too difficult for the majority of the preschoolers. Taken together, this suggests that language-based planning measures will underestimate preschoolers' actual planning capacity. |
