You give your younger brother Joe a big cookie. He accidently drops it and it breaks into many smaller parts. Suddenly he gets very excited and says, "Joe look how many cookies I have now!" He is most likely in which developmental stage?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Joe's excitement over the broken cookie is a characteristic of the preoperational stage of development, where children are still developing the ability to understand conservation (that the amount of something remains the same even when its appearance or form changes). Children in this stage also tend to focus on the appearance of objects rather than their actual properties or quantities, which could explain why Joe thinks he has more cookies now that the big one is broken into smaller pieces.

You Give Your Younger Brother Joe a Big Cookie