Understanding children's “tinkering” in innovative problem-solving: The roles of knowledge integration, relational reasoning, and design stance

A key feature of human societies is the presence of technological traditions. Different cultural groups develop and impart a vast array of problem-solving methods to future generations that are suited for their living environment and cultural lifestyle. Central to this process is our capacity for innovative problem-solving to generate adaptive solutions. The extant developmental psychology literature has focused on invention and novel idea generation, typically assessed empirically using tool making, tool use, and divergent thinking tasks, and focusing on the end product of innovation (creative invention) and goal attainment. Yet, we still know little about the iterative process of 'tinkering' that involves purposeful exploration and experimentation of possible combinations of sub-components leading up to an innovative end product. In light of recent evidence, we propose that 'tinkering' plays a pivotal role in children's capacity for tool innovation and that further exploration of the development of this process is warranted. In this article, we suggest additional cognitive mechanisms that underpin tinkering behaviors: the ability to evaluate and integrate knowledge, along with relational and abstraction reasoning, and the design stance. We hope this proposal spurs additional work for exploring the cognitive foundations for developing innovative problem-solving.