This study examined the planning that occurred when children participated in classroom playcrafting with either adult or child leadership. In a first-/second-grade classroom in an innovative public school, we videotaped 11 sessions in which children volunteered to develop a play with small groups of classmates and seven sessions in which adult…

A total of 32 adult-child and peer dyads involving children of 9-10 years participated in an errand-planning task to see whether children who worked with adults gained from adults' expertise. Adult-child dyads explored a map more frequently, planned longer sequences of moves, and verbalized more planning strategies than did peer dyads. (RH)

Two studies involving five- and nine-year-old children examined the effects of planning with a partner as well as the relation of collaborative planning to subsequent solo planning. Results suggest that cognitive gains resulting from joint problem solving between children and adults or peers may be more likely with shared task responsibility. (RH)

Eighty-nine children between four and nine years of age solved mazes varying in the presumed appropriateness of advance or improvisational planning. Results of the study show that children's planning strategies are adapted to circumstances and suggest that older children may be more proficient in this adaptation than are younger children. (RH)

Children collaborated in planning imaginary errands with novice peers, trained peers, or untrained adults. Collaborative planning of dyads with trained peers and with adults was equally sophisticated. Children who worked with adults planned better in posttests than those who collaborated with trained peers. (BC)