## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

#### Subdomain: Construction of Knowledge: Thinking and Reasoning

#### Goal: Children use their senses to construct knowledge about the world around them

#### Skill Progression: Constructs knowledge

#### Age: 30-33 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

### Interconnects parts to construct a simple 4-5-piece puzzle, nest objects, etc.

Situations for Observation of Skill

Provide materials the child needs to examine, use trial-and-error, or rational thinking to solve a problem.

Elicitation Strategy

Let the child explore independently. If the child does not use problem solving spontaneously, demonstrate and see if the child can pick up on the problem solving approach. Use physical modeling and verbal commenting.

Behavior Observed

The child may independently demonstrate the use of observation, trial-and-error, or rational thinking (“A head goes here.” “I need a yellow piece.”) The child can also demonstrate the ability to learn from other’s example.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage early childhood educators and parents to let the child try to learn things through experimentation before telling her what to do. The child needs to discover spatial and conceptual relationships. Early childhood educators and parents can support learning by pointing out key characteristics for the child to examine and relate. The more the child does on her own, the more confident she will feel.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.