Children's representations of the earth: A methodological comparison

Panagiotaki, Georgia, Nobes, Gavin and Banerjee, Robin (2006) Children's representations of the earth: A methodological comparison. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24 (2). pp. 353-372. ISSN 2044-835X

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Abstract

Investigation of children's understanding of the earth can reveal much about the origins and development of scientific knowledge. Vosniadou and Brewer (1992) claim that children construct coherent, theory-like mental models of the earth. However, more recent research has indicated that children's knowledge of the earth is fragmented and incoherent. By testing the influence of question type (open vs. forced-choice questions) and medium (drawings vs. 3-D models) on the responses of 6-year-olds (N=59), this study investigated whether, and how, methodological differences account for the discrepant findings of previous research. Both the use of drawings and of open questions (Vosniadou and Brewer's methods) were found to increase the apparent incidence of naïve mental models. Moreover, the combination of 3-D models and forced-choice questions elicited more scientifically correct responses and higher proportions of scientific and inconsistent mental models than the combination of drawings and open questions. It is argued that children know more about the earth than the mental model theorists claim, and that naïve mental models of the earth are largely artifactual.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Social Work and Psychology (former - to 2012) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Mental Health Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > UEA Experimental Philosophy Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Social Cognition Research Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	07 Apr 2014 14:16
Last Modified:	28 Mar 2025 04:04
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/48381
DOI:	10.1348/026151005X39116

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