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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools
Published on: June 20, 2020
A method for eliciting scale errors in preschool classrooms
Karl S Rosengren1, Caitlin Carmichael, Stevie S Schein
1Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. k-rosengren@northwestern.edu
Abstract:
Six preschool classrooms, containing children between the ages of 4.0 and 40.0 months, were seeded with miniature items to examine how easily scale errors could be elicited. Observations occurred over a period of 3 months, with a total of 280 min of observations per classroom. A concealed observer documented all interactions with the miniature items. A total of 93 scale errors occurred, with a higher frequency committed by the younger children. These results confirm findings from previous research and suggest that scale errors can be effectively elicited in a preschool classroom. Our approach may provide a useful method for systematically studying the factors that influence scale errors.
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