I have a 2 and a half year old sister named Addison. She is very smart for her age because she has 5 older siblings, a mom, and dad who are always holding a conversation with her. Since Since she is two and half she is under the preoperational stage, which means the child has the ability to construct mental representations of experience- they are able to think beyond here and now, but egocentric and unable to perform mental transformations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whT6w2jrWbA&feature=related
After watching the experiment of the water/cup experiment in lecture, I decided to do a conservation experiment with Addison, somewhat like that but using a small paper plate of ice cream and a regular bowl of ice cream. I measured out the amount of ice cream and put them on the plate and in the bowl. I asked Addison which one she watched and she said the bowl. I asked her why and she said, "Because it has more," and I replied are you sure. She still went for the bowl and kept saying she wanted the one with the most ice cream. Then I got another bowl (smaller size) and put the ice cream on the plate into the bowl. The ice cream filled up the bowl and Addison soon wanted that one, because she said more ice cream was in because it was over flowing; so she thought it there had to be more ice cream. After she took that bowl and was certain that had more I got another bowl (same size) and poured the ice cream in there and put the bowls side by side. She looked at both of them and wasn't sure what bowl had more ice cream. I then explained to her that all along there was the same amount of ice cream for her and me. She then grabbed one of the bowls and I asked her why she took it and she said, "Because I want the blue one."
