The development of time concepts in young children: the relations between duration and succession

108 children from nursery school, first grade, and third grade were given 5 problems measuring the concept of time, in which they were required to judge and explain which of 2 partially overlapping events started first, which ended first, and which lasted for a longer time. 2 types of problems were used which presented time with and without the interference of movement: "still time" (the duration of 2 lights) and "linear time" (the traveling time of 2 toy cars). In both types of problems, judging the succession of both beginnings and endings was equally difficult and was easier than judging duration. Duration judgments were explaned predominantly by succession, whereas succession judgments were explained tautologically or by mere "seeing." Overall, performance increased with age and decreased with interference. A recent model of the development of time concepts is further elaborated and compared with Piaget's framework.