Mandy's ITP Blog

Today I went to the Phillies - Mets game....Go Phillies! Anyway, I brought my camera with me, in anticipation of seeing a lot children at the game, and hoping to get some shots for the upcoming ethnography project that is due.

Lucky for me, there were a lot of children at the game with their parents, and a lot of children were sitting in the neighboring rows of our seats. I was able to identify an example of each stage of Piaget's Cognitive Development.

Sensorimotor: A little boy (about 1 1/2 to 2 years old) sat in front of us. He illustrated true sensorimotor tendencies and had a toy car in this mouth almost the entire game. When he didn't have the car in his mouth, he was biting the metal bar divider between the seats.

Preoperational: A little girl sat close to us. I am guessing she was about five. A lot was going on in the baseball game, but she was more interested in playing a game that she had created. The game had something to do with dragging her feet across the floor. I could not completely see what she was doing, but she was totally immersed in the game.

Concrete-Operational: A few boys sat near us that were around 9 years old. It was at this age that the children actually seemed to be paying attention to the game. They were talking to their Dad's and pointing at the players (I am assuming asking questions or talking strategies) and they would cheer right away when the Mets had a good play. (I was definitely out-numbered in terms of which team I was quietly rooting for.)

Formal-Operational: The majority of people there were in this stage. (Most fans there were above the age of 17) The best example that I can give of unlimited, logical thought, is The Wave. Yes, that's right, the Wave. Adults were able to focus on the game, while paying attention to the wave, and planning for when it was their turn to stand up and put their hands in the air. A bunch of "slides" of thought at once!

I was able to take a short video of each of the scenarios I described above. I am still keeping my eyes open for more opportunities to get more material, but I think I will use these clips for my ethnography project.