Children's ideas about the reliability of experimental data

This paper reports some of the findings of the Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge in Science (PACKS) project. It documents children's ides about the reliability of experimental data, an important element of their understanding of science procedures. These ideas were elicited using a written survey instrument completed by over 1000 students aged 11, 14 and 16, chosen to be representative of the full ability range. The results show progression with age in understanding of empirical data. A range of ideas about the function of repeat measurements, how to handle repeat measurements and anomalous readings, and the significance of the spread of a set of repeated measurements emerge and are discussed.     

Children's ideas about evaporation

This article reports on research conducted as part of the Primary Science Processes and Concept Exploration (space) Project. The background to, and orientation of, space is briefly described.

Classroom‐based research into children's thinking about evaporation is reported. This work was conducted in close collaboration with teachers of the 5‐11 years age range with the intention of establishing the viability of the techniques for eliciting ideas and managing subsequent interventions within classrooms.

Children's thinking in relation to three main evaporation phenomena are discussed. Ideas about evaporation were categorized by reference to notions of conservation, change of location and change of form of the water.     

Children's Views on Quality Standards for Children's Television Programs

Extending a recent study of the standards mothers apply in evaluating the quality of children's programs (Nikken et al., 1996), this study investigated the standards children between 9 and 12 years of age (N = 427) use to evaluate the quality of four types of children's programs: children's news programs, educational programs for children, dramatic programs for children, and cartoons. Data were collected by means of questionnaires. A factor analysis resulted in a list of nine types of quality standards. The two quality standards children considered most important were: (a) comprehensibility, and (b) aesthetic quality. Additional standards were: (c) entertainment, (d) involvement, (e) credibility, (f) innocuousness, (g) restfulness, (h) thought provocation, and (i) presence of role models. The importance children attached to the nine quality standards varied with both program type and child characteristics. Seven of the quality standards found in the present study are similar to the maternal quality standards observed in Nikken et al. ‘s study. The children in the present study generally viewed these seven quality standards as less important than the mothers in Nikken et al.’s study. However, the relative importance children and mothers attached to these quality standards showed similarity, especially in the case of cartoons, and to a lesser extent for children's news programs and dramatic programs.     

Early learning about light: mapping preschool children's thinking about light before,during and after involvement in a two week teaching program

This paper reports the findings of a study which sought to first, find out four‐year‐old children's views on light and dark and second, trace the development of children's thinking about the scientific concept of light during a two‐week teaching program.     

Three approaches to measuring children's perceptions about technology

Abstract

This paper reports the development and use of three instruments which comprise a comprehensive technique for describing children's perceptions about technology. The instruments are a questionnaire for upper primary school children, a quiz using pictures instead of written items for lower primary school children and, for both age‐groups, a combined writing/drawing activity which complements the questionnaire or quiz. The instruments are designed to cater for children from a range of age levels, provide information helpful to teachers about children's perceptions of technology, and be suitable for use in research. The instruments were trialled in a total of 28 classes in Western Australian schools and construct validity established by examining the pattern of responses between pairs of instruments completed by the same children. The teachers stated that participating in the processes of developing and administering the instruments was useful and gave them valuable information about children's views of technology.     

Differentiation of Children's Competence Beliefs and Achievement Values,and their Relations to Children's Performance and Choice of Different Activities

ABSTRACT

Results of two studies of children's competence beliefs and achievement values for mathematics and reading are summarized. Approximately 1700 children and adolescents participated in the studies; the participants were in first through 12th grades. The studies were based on an expectancy — value model of achievement choice proposed by Eccles et al. (1983). Results indicated that children's competence beliefs and achievement task values are distinctive belief systems, even in first grade children. During the elementary school years, the strength of relations between children's competence beliefs and adult evaluations of children's competence increased across grade. Children and adolescents’ competence beliefs predict their mathematics performance, whereas their task values predict their intentions to continue taking mathematics.     

Bugs,butterflies, and spiders: Children's understandings about insects

This article explores elementary children's ideas about insects. The study involved 20 children from each grade level, kindergarten through fifth-grade, for a total of 120 children. The data collection procedure was designed to investigate what an insect means to children, through the use of three different tasks: draw and explain, interview about instances, and the formulation of a general rule. Considering children's responses to the three tasks, I found that their ideas about insects reflect understandings based on physical characteristics of size and shape, arthropod characteristics, insect characteristics, human-insect interactions, life habits of insects, feeding habits of insects, and means of locomotion. Children's understandings are juxtaposed to that of a scientific perspective, elucidating implications for curriculum development and instructional practice.     

“Just another emperor”: Understanding action in the past

This paper reports part of an investigation of children's ideas about explanation and enquiry in history carried out by project CHATA in 3 primary and 6 secondary schools in England. Three sets of tasks were administered on three separate occasions to children aged from 7 to 14 years of age (N=320). Responses to one task exploring children's ideas about the explanation of action in history are discussed. Almost all children (including the 7 year olds) could offer plausible reasons for individual action in history, and there was a progression from emphasis on personal desires to an awareness of the need to explain action by relating purposes to the agent's situation.     

“Poetry? Of course we do it. It's in the National Curriculum.” Primary children's perceptions of poetry

What can listening to children's ideas about poetry teach us? This article considers ways in which exploring primary‐aged students' perceptions of poetry can inform teachers' work with children. Using strategies from earlier studies in secondary schools, a small‐scale project with Year 6 students revealed their complex and sometimes contradictory ideas. These ideas reflect some of the current debates around the nature of poetry and ways of teaching it. The children's ideas are analysed with critical attention paid to the impact of the view of literacy in England's National Literacy Strategy on the teaching and learning of poetry.     

Role‐Taking Ability and Altruistic Behaviour in Elementary School Children

Abstract

Twenty‐four second‐ and third‐grade children were given two cognitively‐based role‐taking tests developed by Flavell et al. (1968). The children's social behaviour was observed over a two‐month period. It was coded according to a scheme introduced by the anthropologists Whiting and Whiting (1975) which produces composite scores of egoism and altruism. Teachers rated the children's social behaviour and role‐taking ability. IQ scores were obtained from school records. Tests of the reliability and validity of the measures of role‐taking and altruism were positive. Role‐taking ability was positively correlated with naturally‐occurring altruistic behaviour and teacher's ratings of altruism. IQ was positively correlated with role‐taking ability, and tended to be positively correlated with altruism. The correlation between role‐taking and altruism was marginally significant with IQ partialled out. The results were consistent with the conclusion that role‐taking ability increases the disposition to behave altruistically in third‐grade children.     

Speed,education and children as pedestrians: a cognitive change approach to a potentially dangerous naive concept

Previous studies have indicated that children, in the pedestrian accident‐prone age range of 4‐9 years, hold a range of naive concepts of speed, which could be a possible causal factor in determining young children's vulnerability when interacting with traffic. This research reports an attempt to bring about conceptual change in children's concept of speed via the teaching of the science of speed. The course incorporated elements of an integrated educational experience and was specifically designed to involve the minimum of teacher preparation and the maximum of hands‐on experiences. The results indicate that it may indeed be possible to modify naive conceptions via teaching that targets particular concepts.     

Children's ideas on light and vision

This paper reports a small‐scale longitudinal enquiry into the development of children's ideas on light and vision. It followed the same class from Year 4 (age 9) through to Year 6 (age 11), but the greater part of the information came from Year 5. The data were derived from the children's drawings and written responses, and from small group interviews. Care was taken to ensure that the ideas elicited were the true beliefs of the children. No formal instruction in the subject had been given, nor was any attempted. In the analysis, the children's views have been classified according to a hierarchical set of models, which reflect the strong adherence to an active vision interpretation held by the majority. The extent of progression towards the more scientific view is reported. In the introduction and discussion comparison is made between contemporary non‐scientific conceptions of vision, and the speculations of pre‐scientific philosophers. A final section presents some implications of these findings for teaching the topic.     

Towards a phenomenography of light and vision

This paper presents a novel structure for displaying a phenomenographical hierarchy, and then proceeds to construct such a hierarchy for children's ideas on light and vision. Five independent dimensions of cognitive demand are proposed. After a discussion of children's use of Emission and Reception models in different contexts, suggestions are put forward for progression in learning in this area.     

The Wheels of the Bus: Children designing in an early years classroom

Many claims have been made for the value of design in the school curriculum. This case study, of young children's designs in an early years design, make and appraise (DMA) classroom, examined several issues related to these claims, including the connection between designing and making, the purpose of drawing for young children, children's understandings about the design process, types of images used by young children and children's attitudes to designing. The role of the teacher in the children's understanding of the design / drawing process was explored. The study revealed that design for young children is a complex topic requiring a range of sophisticated teaching and learning strategies.     

Children's Behavioral Adjustment in Pre-Primary Schools in Tanzania: A Multilevel Approach

Research Findings: The present study concerns children's behavioral adjustment in the context of pre-primary schools in Tanzania. Twenty teachers and 320 children from 20 pre-primary schools participated in the study. Teacher–child relationships, children's behavioral adjustment, and teachers' cultural beliefs were reported by teachers; classroom emotional support was measured through classroom observation. The multilevel findings revealed that high-quality teacher–child relationships and high-quality teacher sensitivity were related to children's prosocial behavioral adjustment. In contrast, observed low-quality teacher–child relationships and low-quality teacher sensitivity were found to be related to children's aggression and anxiety. In addition, teachers' cultural beliefs, concerning play in particular, were found to be related to children's anxiety. The findings support the ecological theory regarding the importance of child characteristics and classroom context in shaping a child's behavioral adjustment in schools. Practice or Policy: The results have implications for pre-primary school teachers in Tanzania, to consider their relationships with children and their sensitivity to children as important aspects for children's behavioral adjustment in schools. They also inform policymakers about the role of pre-primary school teachers in the country.     

Genetic epistemological notes on recent research into children's understanding of light

This paper reports a new analysis of data on children's ideas about seeing and light. The analysis is theoretically informed by Piagetian stage theory of genetic epistemology. Data produced by other researchers have been recoded to enable quantitative comparisons to be made with the survey data reported by Shayer and Adey (1981). The patterns in the data exposed by genetic epistemological analysis suggest that: (a) the qualitative nature of schemata depends on the content and context of learning opportunities, (b) the stage of genetic epistemological processing marks a ceiling on performance and (c) the ontogenesis of schema in the cognitive development of the individual is still best described in genetic epistemological terms.     

Post-Bullock

This paper reports on a small-scale study which examined children's knowledge of fiction and non-fiction genres on starting school and how this knowledge had changed after two terms in a reception class. It also considers how the teacher's reading of texts to the class may have influenced children's development.     

Wall displays-children‘s reactions

Our writers so far have emphasised the concepts, skills and values which can be fostered through topic work. Vivienne Little discusses the role of drama in encouraging historical understanding. She gives some lucid and expertly-documented examples of how children can be helped “to realise that people read about history books were real and had experiences and feelings …” Interestingly, her ideas on the importance of children's “play” and the centrality of narrative (“the essence of history”) extends points raised by Liz Thomson in the Spring issue of 3–13 .     

Science in the Classroom: Finding a Balance Between Autonomous Exploration and Teacher-Led Instruction in Preschool Settings

Research Findings: This paper reports on children's use of science materials in preschool classrooms during their free choice time. Baseline observations showed that children and teachers rarely spend time in the designated science area. An intervention was designed to “market” the science center by introducing children to 1 science tool, the balance scale. Baseline measures showed that children did not know the scale's name or function. The intervention was expected to increase children's use of the science area and their knowledge about the scale. Children's voluntary presence and exploration in the science area increased after the balance scale intervention compared to in comparison classrooms. Furthermore, children who participated in this intervention demonstrated improved knowledge about the scale's function, whereas students in the comparison group did not. Practice or Policy: Adults can increase children's autonomous exploration of science tools and materials, and their knowledge about them, by offering particular kinds of large-group learning experiences.     

Indian in the Cupboard: A case study in perspective

The children's book, The Indian in the Cupboard, by British author Lynne Reid Banks, provides a case study which contrasts American Indian and non-Indian perspectives about stereotypes of Native Americans in children's literature, as reflected in the review literature. Exploration of the reasons why the book is becoming a classic in children's literature reinforce the need for teachers, librarians, and parents to find a role in: encouraging practitioners to understand what constitutes stereotypes of American Indians; educating potential teachers and librarians about cultural diversity; including works reflecting the voices of Native Americans in library collections for children; using caution when relying on book reviews; helping children learn critical thinking skills that enable them to recognize stereotyping; and providing and hearing the voices of Native Americans explaining why portrayals of Indian characters are often fantasized literary constructions.