Zone of Potential Development for 4-Year-Olds Attempting to Simulate the Use of Absent Objects

Abstract

The zone of potential development for 4-year-olds attempting to pretend to use objects was examined. Previous studies found that during standardized tests 4-year-olds tend to position their hands as if their hands were the object as opposed to positioning their hands as if they were holding the object. The present study proposed that, while 4-year-olds tend to produce the less mature responses when asked to pretend to use objects, the ability to produce realistic responses is within their zone of potential development. This means that with experimenter assistance they would be able to select and execute the more realistic responses. Seventy-two 4-year-olds were assigned to one of four conditions: verbal, practice, demonstration, and imaginary context. Each child was asked to pretend to use eight objects. The results showed that the demonstration group produced significantly more realistic responses than the other groups. The imaginary context group produced significantly more realistic responses than the verbal and practice groups. The findings are discussed as an illustration of how knowledge of children's zone of potential development for this and for other tasks can help therapists plan more effective treatment.