Kindergartners’ Mental Models of the Shape of the Earth

Year 2015, Volume: 14 Issue: 2, 734 - 743, 26.04.2015

Mesut Saçkes , Halil Korkmaz

https://doi.org/10.17051/io.2015.23291

Cited By: 3

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten children’s conceptual understandings of the shape of the earth and the characteristics of the cognitive representations they constructed. A total of 20 Kindergarten children participated in the study (age range 60 to 72 months), including 11 boys and 9 girls. A multi-dimensional interview protocol, developed based on previous studies, was used to collect the study data and children were individually interviewed. Children’s responses were analyzed using the model identification methodology. Results demonstrated that while a large proportion of children had naïve models of the earth, none of the children had synthetic models. Some children had a unique mental model of the earth, doughnut (simit), which is not exhibited by children from US and Western European countries. The findings of this study support the assumption that children’s conceptual understandings of the shape of the earth may be represented as internally consistent mental models.

Keywords

Shape of the Earth, mental models, kindergartners, early childhood education

Anaokulu Çocuklarının Dünyanın Şekline İlişkin Zihinsel Modelleri

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı 60-72 ay arası okul öncesi dönem çocuklarının dünyanın şekline ilişkin kavramsal anlayışlarını ve bu anlayışların bilişsel olarak nasıl temsil edildiğini incelemektir. Çalışmaya anaokuluna devam eden 60-72 aylık toplam 20 çocuk katılmıştır. Çocukların 11’i erkek, 9’u ise kızdır. Araştırma verileri önceki literatür  temelinde geliştirilen dört boyutlu bir görüşme protokolü kullanılarak çocuklarla birebir yapılan görüşmeler yoluyla toplanmıştır. Çocukların yanıtları model tanılama yöntemi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, çocukların büyük bir kısmının dünyanın şekline ilişkin naif modellere sahip olduğunu, buna karşın çalışmaya katılan hiçbir çocuğun sentetik modele sahip olmadığını göstermiştir. Bazı çocukların ise Amerikalı ve Batı Avrupalı çocuklarda gözlenmeyen simit modeline sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. Araştırma sonuçları çocukların dünyanın şekline ilişkin kavramsal anlayışlarının içsel olarak tutarlı zihinsel modeller şeklinde temsil edildikleri varsayımını desteklemektedir.

Keywords

Dünyanın şekli, zihinsel modeller, anaokulu çocukları, erken çocukluk eğitimi

References

• Blown, E. J., & Bryce, T. G. K. (2006). Knowledge restructuring in the development of children’s cosmologies. International Journal of Science Education, 28(12), 1411-1462.
• Brewer, W. F. (2008). Naïve theories of observational astronomy: Review, analysis, and theoretical implications. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.), International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change (pp.155-204). New York: Routledge.
• Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Cohen, J. (1968). Weighted Kappa: Nominal scale agreement with provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit. Psychological Bulletin, 70(4), 213-220.
• Dove, J. (1998). Alternative conceptions about weather. School Science Review, 79(289), 65-69.
• Early, D. M., Iruka, I. U., Ritchie, S., Barbarin, O. A., Winn, D. C., Crawford, G. M.,… Pianta, R. C. (2010). How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity and income as predictors of experiences in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Early Childhood Education Quarterly, 25, 177- 193.
• Frède, V., Nobes, G., Frappart, S., Panagiotaki, G., Troadec, B., & Martin, A. (2011). The acquisition of scientific knowledge: The influence of methods of questioning and analysis on the interpretation of children's conceptions of the earth. Infant and Child Development, 20(6), 432-448.
• Greenfield, D. B., Jirout, J., Dominguez, X., Greenberg, A., Maier, M., & Fuccillo, J. (2009). Science in the preschool classroom: A programmatic research agenda to improve science readiness. Early Education and Development, 20(2), 238-264.
• Hannust, T., & Kikas, E. (2010). Young children’s acquisition of knowledge about the Earth: A longitudinal study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 107, 164-180.
• Hayes, B. K., Goodhew, A., Heit, E., & Gillian, J. (2003). The role of diverse instruction in conceptual change. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 86, 253-276.
• İbret, B. Ü., & Aydınözü, D. (2011). İlköğretim II. kademe öğrencilerinin “Dünya” kavramına ilişkin geliştirdikleri metaforlar. Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi, 19(1), 85-102.
• Kallery, M. (2011). Astronomical concepts and events awareness for young children. International Journal of Science Education, 33(2), 341-369.
• Kurnaz, M. A. (2012). Turkish students’ understandings about some basic astronomy concepts: A cross- grade study.World Applied Sciences Journal, 19(7): 986-997.
• Kurnaz, M. A., & Değermenci, A. (2012). Mental models of 7th grade students on Sun, Earth and Moon. Elementary Education Online, 11(1), 137-150.
• Küçüközer, H., & Bostan, A. (2010). Ideas of kindergarten students on the day-night cycles, the seasons and the moon phases. Journal of Theory and Practice in Education, 6(2), 267-280.
• McGraw, K. O., & Wong, S. P. (1996). Forming inferences about some intraclass correlation coefficients. Psychological Methods, 1(1), 30-46.
• Nayfeld, I., Brenneman, K., & Gelman, R. (2011). Science in the classroom: Finding a balance between autonomous exploration and teacher-led instruction in preschool settings. Early Education and Development, 22(6), 970-988.
• Nobes, G., Martin, A. E., & Panagiotaki, G. (2005). The development of scientific knowledge of the Earth. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23, 47-64.
• Özsoy, S. (2012). Is the earth flat or round? Primary school children’s understandings of the planet earth: The case of Turkish children.International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 4(2), 407-415.
• Saçkes, M., Flevares, L. M., & Trundle, K. C. (2010). Four– to six-year-old children’s conceptions of the
• mechanism of rainfall. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25 (4), 536- 546.
• Saçkes, M.,Trundle, K. C., Bell, R. L., & O'Connell, A. A. (2011). The influence of early science experience in kindergarten on children’s immediate and later science achievement: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2), 217-235.
• Samarapungavan, A., Vosniadou, S., &Brewer, W. (1996). Mental models of the earth, sun and moon: Indian children’s cosmologies. Cognitive Development, 11, 491–521.
• Schoultz, J., Saljo, R., & Wyndhamn, J. (2001). Heavenly talk: Discourse, artifacts, and children’s
• understanding of elementary astronomy. Human Development, 44, 103-118.
• Sharp, J. G. (1999). Young children’s ideas about the earth in space. International Journal of Early Years
• Education, 7(2), 159-172.
• Siegal, M., Butterwort, G., & Newcombe, P. A. (2004). Culture and children’s cosmology.
• Developmental Science, 7(3), 308-324.
• Straatemeier, M., van der Maas, H. L. J., & Jansen, B. R. J. (2008). Children’s knowledge of the earth: A new methodological and statistical approach. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 100(4), 276-296.
• Varol, F. (2013). What they believe and what they do. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 21(4), 541-552.
• Vosniadou, S. (1994). Universal and culture-specific properties of children's mental models of the earth. In L. A. Hirschfeld & S. A. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition and culture (pp. 412-430). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
• Vosniadou, S., Archontidou, A., Kalogiannidou, A., & Ioannides, C. (1996). How Greek children understand the shape of the earth: A study of conceptual change in childhood. Psychological Issues, 7(1), 30–51.
• Vosniadou, S., & Brewer, W. F. (1992). Mental models of the earth: A study of conceptual change in childhood. Cognitive Psychology, 24, 535-585.
• Vosniadou, S., & Brewer, W. F. (1994). Mental models of the day/night cycle. Cognitive Science, 18(1), 123-183.
• Vosniadou, S., Skopeliti, I., & Ikospentaki, K. (2004). Modes of knowing and ways of reasoning in elementary astronomy. Cognitive Development, 19(2), 203-222.
• Vosniadou, S., Skopeliti, I., & Ikospentaki, K. (2005). Reconsidering the role of artifacts in reasoning: Children’s understanding of the globe as a model of the earth. Learning and Instruction, 15, 331- 351.
• Yeşilyurt, S. (2003). Ana sınıfı öğrencileri ve ilköğretim birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin canlı ve cansız kavramlarını anlama düzeyleri üzerine bir araştırma. Erzincan Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 5(2), 83- 96.
• Za’rour, G. I. (1976). Interpretation of natural phenomena by Lebanese school children. Science Education, 60(2), 277-287.