Abstract
Age and experience are usually confounded in developmental research. In the present study, age and experience were quantified more precisely to determine whether each of them, controlling the other, was significant in estimating various measures of children's scripts for the zoo. Children (3- to 12-year-olds) were interviewed about the zoo before and after a group of them went to the zoo. Experience was the best predictor of the number of propositions children stated about the zoo. Whereas experience predicted tense use before, age predicted tense use after the zoo trip. The complexity of children's scripts (i.e., number of optionals and conditionals) depended on both age and experience. Children's photographs of the zoo served as a nonverbal assessment, and the percentage of animal photographs was predicted by age. The results suggested that script development is not complete by 7 years of age. Age and experience predict different measures of script knowledge.
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