The role of intraindividual variability in learning and cognitive development

Children’s behavior often varies from one moment to the next. A toddler might say, “I drawed a doggy,” and moments later, the same child might say, “I drew it!” A first-grader might solve an addition problem by counting both addends on her fingers, but when solving the same problem a few minutes later, she might count up from the larger addend. This chapter addresses the significance of such intraindividual variability for children’s learning and cognitive development.