2-030 - Explanation and Exploration in Children’s Intuitive and Scientific Theories

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children actively seek out information about the world, yet during the process of acquiring new concepts, children’s understanding can at times be inaccurate or incomplete. This symposium examines the ways in which children improve their understanding of scientific concepts and intuitive/lay theories by revising inaccurate beliefs and filling in gaps in their knowledge.

Three papers examine children’s learning about scientific domains during early to middle childhood – a period during which children’s scientific reasoning skills and knowledge are rapidly expanding. Paper 1 demonstrates that guided play is an effective means of enabling preschoolers to overcome misconceptions about physics, and that additional scaffolding in the form of explanations, can further promote their understanding of physics concepts. Paper 2 shows that children’s choices about what to learn reflect their existing understanding of a scientific domain, such that children with a weak understanding choose to learn relevant information more often than children with a stronger understanding. Paper 3 demonstrates that when children are in the process of learning something new about biology, they recognize when an explanation is incomplete and they engage in selective learning behaviors that allow them to fill gaps in their knowledge.

Together, these papers present evidence supporting the proposal that children’s scientific learning and exploration is guided by their prior knowledge and the quality of the explanations they receive. An expert on how children acquire and revise scientific concepts will discuss the findings presented in the papers, outline directions for future research, and present potential implications for science education.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Judith Danovitch, University of Louisville

Discussant

• Deborah Kelemen, Boston University

Individual Presentations

• The Role of Explanations and Guided Play in Young Children’s Revision of Physical Science Misconceptions - Presenting Author: Vaunam P. Venkadasalam, University of Toronto; Non-Presenting Author: Nicole E. Larsen, University of Toronto; Non-Presenting Author: Patricia Ganea, University of Toronto

• Uncertainty in Preschoolers’ Intuitive Theories of Biology, Psychology, and Psychosomatic Events Drives Explanation Seeking - Non-Presenting Author: Yang Yang, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: Jinjing Jenny Wang, Johns Hopkins University; Presenting Author: Elizabeth Bonawitz, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: Carla Macias, Rutgers University, Newark

• Children’s Engagement in Additional Learning Following Complete and Incomplete Explanations - Presenting Author: Candice Mills, The University of Texas at Dallas; Non-Presenting Author: Judith Danovitch, University of Louisville; Non-Presenting Author: Kaitlin Rose Sands, The University of Texas at Dallas; Non-Presenting Author: Allison Williams, University of Louisville