Poster #7 - A Linguistic Perspective on Cross-Cultural Differences in Young Children's Geometric Shape Knowledge

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

The present study compared Japanese and US preschool children’s knowledge of geometric shapes. Young children’s ability to identify shapes and their respective properties in canonical and noncanonical forms sets the stage for subsequent geometric thinking prior to formal education (Zambrzycka et al., 2017). However, US children seem underprepared compared to children from other nations, namely China (e.g., Zhou et al., 2005) and Japan (e.g., Gonzales et al., 2008). While cultural differences in mathematics language have been proposed as a contributor to cross-cultural differences in children’s understanding of numerical concepts (e.g., Magargee & Beauford, 2016; Rodic et al., 2018), no studies have examined how language differences may contribute to cultural variations in young children’s thinking about geometric shapes.
English terms for geometric shapes are derived from Greek and Latin words. For young children, these terms can be considered long and complicated with little meaning attached to their respective names or visual representations. In contrast, Japanese terms for geometric shapes are relatively straightforward. For example, a pentagon is a five-angle shape (五角形). Aside from rectangle, all standard 2D shapes take a form of “[the number of angles]-angle-shape” (i.e., a defining property of each shape is embedded in its term). Children learning these simple terms should have an easier time linking words to visuals and their properties than those who must memorize complex terms.
Participants were 33 Japanese children (Mage = 54.24 months, SD = 7.33 months) and 26 US children (Mage = 55.58 months, SD = 8.03 months) between 42 and 68 months of age. The central task in the study was a Shape Identification Task. Children were presented sets of four picture cards for each target shape (triangle, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, and octagon). For each target shape set, two picture cards displayed valid forms of the target shape (i.e., one canonical and one non-canonical form) and two non-valid forms of the target shape (i.e., one canonical form with a non-enclosed side and one canonical form with a missing angle). Children were asked to indicate whether each image was a valid or invalid form of the target shape.
A multiple linear regression using a forward stepwise method of entry indicated that country accounted for 29% of the variance in children’s shape knowledge and age accounted for an additional 5% of the variance. Japanese children outperformed US children on the Shape Identification Task, and children’s performance on the Shape Identification Task tended to improve with age. Additional between-country comparisons indicated Japanese and US children did not differ in their abilities to identify canonical and non-canonical forms of target shapes, but Japanese children significantly outperformed US children in rejecting non-valid forms of the target shapes. Finally, Japanese and US children did not differ in their abilities to identify rectangles, but Japanese children significantly outperformed US children in identifying all other target shapes. To discuss these findings, we propose that the simplicity of geometric shape names in the Japanese language may explain the cross-country differences in children's shape knowledge.

Authors

• Patrick Pieng, California State University - Sacramento

• Lisa M. Weckbacher, Pepperdine University
  Presenting Author

• Yukari Okamoto