History and Time Intervals

Making Generalizations: The Way Your Child Uses Prior Knowledge to Make Guesses about New Experiences

Since your child was born, he has been absorbing information from the world around him. Through observation, trial and error, asking questions, and other learning techniques, he now has enough experience and prior knowledge to make generalizations about new information. For example, if he sees an unusual dog breed that he's never encountered, he will still be able to put enough clues together to realize that it's a dog, without having to ask. Not all generalizations will be correct! Upon looking at a school of fish or flock of birds moving in tight formation, he may decide that there must be a leader guiding the whole production, as would be the case with people, when in fact no one fish or bird is in charge. Overall, these generalization skills are good to encourage, as they help refine your child's prior knowledge while exercising his reasoning abilities.

Has your child achieved the following History and Time Intervals developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all of the skill(s) he has already mastered to date.