-
[shake toy]
-
What is about new crawlers that prevents them from assessing what is dangerous for them?
-
That's the question that interests Karen Adolph.
-
She understands that the world looks completely different to a baby from when he is seated to when he first begins to crawl.
-
Each posture from lying to sitting to crawling brings new lessons to be learned
-
new obstacles to be overcome
-
Karen Adolph wondered if infants can apply what they learned about their abilities as sitters to the new posture of crawling.
-
At 9 months, Ethan has had a lot of experience sitting.
-
that experience has taught him how far he can stretch across a gap before he loses his balance and falls in.
-
when the gap gets too large for him, he refuses to reach for the toy.
-
He is torn between his desire and his better sense.
-
Next, Dr. Adolph tries the same gaps but with Ethan crawling.
-
He is shown that there is a gap in the floor.
-
But Ethan is a new crawler. He has no inkling what the gap means when he is crawling.
-
He misjudges its width and depth. Things look different to him from this new and still unfamiliar posture.
-
When faced with a gap that he would avoid as a sitter, Ethan recklessly plunges in.
-
although babies love to experiment, at every new posture, they have to relearn how far they can go if they're to survive their childhood.
-
Like Ethan, Jane is also 9 months.
-
She has just learned her first lesson about the gap.
-
And like Ethan, she's falling into the same trap.
-
She's put into position for a second try, but after falling in once, she cleverly looks for new alternatives.
-
and when she can't find it, wild horses can't drag her across the gap.
-
But why is Jane the wiser child?
-
How do babies learn to appreciate height and depth?
