Event Knowledge Structure and Function in Development

Originally published in 1986, Event Knowledge: Structure and Function in Development was first undertaken because the authors were interested in certain phenomena of cognitive development in early childhood. In particular, they were struck by the discrepancy between young children’s apparent competence in everyday activities and their apparent incompetence on certain cognitive tasks. The research was designed in an attempt to identify the basis for children’s competence in everyday life. It evolved into an effort to find links between the everyday and the experimental realms, the hope that they could explain both the successes in one and failures in the other.

Based on initial concerns and assumptions, the program of research described here was designed to explore how young children’s knowledge of their everyday world – its spatial-temporal structure, the people and objects that occupy it, and their activities – is organized and used, both in practical tasks and in abstract thinking. The approach was novel and it was hoped it would provide the foundation for a new approach to a theory of cognitive development. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Katherine Nelson (1930–2018) was, at the time of original publication, based at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), USA.