TABLE 3.

Coding Rubric for Children’s Exploratory Behavior

Code	Description	Behaviors Included
Exploring individual gears	Coded when child picked up and manipulated an individual piece or element of the exhibit, but did not engage with more than one piece.a	• Holding piece • Placing piece on the exhibit without contacting other gears • Fiddling with piece position • Spinning a single gear (unconnected to another gear) • Putting a piece away
Exploring connections	Coded when child connected or disconnected individual gears together in ways that allowed child to engage in, or to stop engaging in, causal function.	• Connecting teeth of two or more gears without spinning the gears • Adding a gear to an already constructed set of connected gears (referred to as a gear machine) • Disconnecting gears to reorganize a gear machine (i.e., disconnecting a gear and connecting it to a different gear on a different part of the exhibit) • Connecting two gears in the air or—at CA or TX—without magnetic bases so they would not stick to the table
Attempting to explore connections	Coded when child unsuccessfully tried to connect two gears. Code applied only if child was judged to be attempting to connect gears (i.e., gears must have been touching with the possibility that their teeth could connect).b	• Repeated attempts to connect gear to another gear • Repeated attempts to place gear in pegboard (in RI) in a position that would allow it to connect with another gear
Exploring gear machines	Coded when child manipulated a gear machine by spinning the gears, hence putting the causal process into action. The machine being spun could have been one constructed by the child or one that had been provided as part of the exhibit. To receive this code, children must also have been looking at the result of their action.	• Turning one gear on a connected machine, thereby causing at least one other gear to spin
Attempting to explore gear machines	Coded when child attempted to spin gears that move other gears in a machine, but the gears did not spin.	• Attempting to spin a gear machine but failing to get it to spin perhaps because gears jammed (usually in RI) or because they drifted apart while spinning (in CA and TX).
Not interacting with exhibit	Coded cases when child was not interacting with the exhibit materials, but was facing the exhibit.	• Observing the parent without exploring any of the materials • Leaning on the exhibit but not manipulating gears • Passively touching a gear on the exhibit without manipulating it while looking off at something else.
Not codable	Coded when none of the child’s actions were visible during the full 5-s interval. (If actions were visible during part of the interval, codes were assigned based on behaviors observed during that time.)	• Child was positioned so that their hands were not visible • Child was not facing the exhibit or engaging with the gears • Child was off camera

^aIn CA and TX, this code was used when child attached a gear to a magnetic base because such an attachment was a necessary first step before it would be possible to connect one gear to another (see Chapter II).

^bIf a child initially “attempted” but ultimately succeeded in connecting gears during a 5-s interval, the interval was coded as Exploring Connections (rather than as Attempting).