Knowledge of air: A study of children aged between 6 and 8 years

Borghi, Lidia; Ambrosis, Anna De; Massara, C. I.; Grossi, M. G.; Zoppi, D.

doi:10.1080/0950069880100206

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This list is more complex than, but is not inconsistent with, the 'alternative frameworks' identified by Sere (1982), Engel Clough and Driver (1986), Brook and Driver (1988), and Borghi et al (1988).…”

Section: Conceptions Used By Childrenmentioning

confidence: 83%

The nature of students’ informal science conceptions

Tytler

1998

International Journal of Science Education

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Case studies have been constructed of primary school children's developing explanations of a range of air pressure phenomena. A range of conceptions relating to air pressure have been identified, and insights gained concerning the way these interrelate over time and over context. It was found that children are naturally generative in their construction of explanations, but that they use conceptions in quite complex and fluid ways. It is argued that naive conceptions maintain a valuable function as intuitive recognition elements that feed more sophisticated conceptions, and that generating a satisfying explanation for a phenomenon can involve having access to a range of interrelated conceptions. A range of contextual factors were identified, which influence the construction of explanations, and can act as barriers to the application of scientific conceptions.

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Section: Conceptions Used By Childrenmentioning

confidence: 83%

The nature of students’ informal science conceptions

Tytler

1998

International Journal of Science Education

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“…The difficulties identified in the current study are consistent with the data found in the relevant literature. That is, the pre-logical explanations that dominate children's thinking, the instability in their responses across different tasks as well as the notion of centration have been extensively highlighted in the academic literature (Borghi et al, 1998;Kontili et al, 2023;Van Hook et al, 2005). However, the above-mentioned difficulties highlighted here a particular dimension to the way children conceptualize air since the tasks referred to specific discrete and restrictive spaces such as vases instead to the usual wider environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…A number of studies have consistently found that children aged 4-8 years face difficulty in conceptualizing air as something material and discrete. Borghi et al (1998) and Kornelaki (2023) found some pre-logical forms of thinking in children's reasoning about air. In addition, Van Hook et al (2005), Lorenzo Flores et al (2018) and Sesto Varela et al (2022) found difficulties both in detecting air in space and in conceptualizing its material nature, while Kontili et al (2023) found that air is more easily detected outdoors, while indoors is associated with the existence of openings to the outdoors such as windows.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Air Exist in Vases? Mental Representations of Children 4-6 Years Old

Kontili,

Kaliampos,

Ravanis

2023

PEGT

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Introduction. One of the prominent domains of research in the context of Early Childhood Science Education is the study of mental representations of 3-8 years old children about phenomena and concepts of science, as they are formed in school knowledge. Along this line, research has been conducted on various fields. Among them a small number of studies has turned to the concept of air. Basic mental representations of air indicate that young children do not recognize it as a material entity and are strongly influenced in their predictions by factors related to elements of experimental situations. Goal. The current research aims to explore the mental representations of 4-6 year old children about the existence of air in vases. Methods of the Research. The study was qualitative in nature and the sample was 41 children aged 4-6 years (26 children 4-5 years and 15 children 5-6 years). The research was conducted using semi-directed individual interviews. Children were asked, through 6 diverse tasks, to express their view regarding the existence of air in closed and open vases that were located in ‘closed’ or ‘open rooms’ as well as in the outdoor environment. Discussions were based on 6 digital pictures depicted in the tasks. The Results. Our findings showed that rather few responses were consistent with school knowledge. Among them, the fewest sufficient answers were in the tasks that dealt with closed vases. While the differences in responses between closed and open vases were not statistically significant, they were nevertheless systematically recorded. In addition, quite interestingly a substantial number of children regarded open window as an important factor in the existence of air in the vases. In general, children's answers were dominated by pre-logical explanations, instability in responses among different tasks as well as centrations regarding different parts of the pictures. Conclusions. In the current study became evident that the identification of children's difficulties regarding the existence of air in closed vases allows a series of rational choices at multiple levels: in the design of teaching activities, in the formulation of curricula, in the development of educational material and in teacher training. The need to extend the research to other areas related to the conceptualization of air was also highlighted.

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“…Deux raisons ont néanmoins étayé ce choix. La première s'appuie sur des résultats de recherche montrant que pour les élèves de l'école primaire (Borghi et al, 1988), et ceux du collège (Séré, 1985) l'air n'agit que lorsqu'il est en mouvement. Il existe ainsi pour eux une sorte de lien entre l'action de l'air et son mouvement.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Un schéma vaut-il mieux qu’un long discours ?

Givry¹,

Andreucci²

2015

educationdidactique

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Cette recherche s'intéresse à l'importance du langage écrit et des systèmes de signes dans l'apprentissage de concepts scientiiques. Elle propose de montrer que la mobilisation des idées des élèves de seconde sur les gaz diffère selon les registres sémiotiques (texte ou schéma) proposés dans une évaluation. Notre étude adopte une approche socioconstructiviste de l'apprentissage et développe un cadre théorique mixte, articulant des éléments issus de la didactique de la physique avec les travaux de Duval (1995) sur la sémiotique. À partir d'une évaluation (utilisant simultanément du texte et du schéma) passée auprès d'environ 90 élèves de seconde juste après une séquence d'enseignement du groupe SESAMES sur les gaz, nous avons catégorisé à l'aide du logiciel Sphinx leurs réponses écrites et leurs schémas. La iabilité de cette catégorisation a été éprouvée à l'aide du test de Cohen' s Kappa dont les résultats ont montré une excellente reproductibilité intra codeur. Nos résultats montrent par ailleurs que : (I) les situations inluencent la mobilisation des idées des élèves en fonction des registres sémiotiques sollicités dans l'évaluation ; (II) les registres sémiotiques inluencent différemment la mobilisation des idées des élèves en fonction des facettes du savoir mises en jeu. En effet, les productions des élèves sont beaucoup plus pertinentes : (a) dans le registre du schéma pour rendre compte des facettes aspect particulaire et répartition homogène du gaz et (b) dans le registre du texte en langage naturel pour mobiliser leurs idées relatives à l'action du gaz ; (III) les registres sémiotiques utilisés dans les tâches de la séquence d'enseignement sur les gaz pourraient éventuellement avoir un lien avec la mobilisation des idées des élèves dans les registres sémiotiques proposés par l'évaluation. Les implications de ces travaux dans l'enseignement de la physique, ainsi que la recherche en didactiques sont importantes. Elles devraient permettre une meilleure prise en compte des registres sémiotiques dans l'évaluation des connaissances des élèves. This research focuses on written language and systems of signs to study the learning of scientiic concepts. It proposes to show that students (Grade 10 [aged 15]) mobilize ideas about gas in different ways in regard to the semiotic registers (text or picture) proposed during an assessment. Our study adopts a socio-constructivist approach of learning and develops a theoretical framework, articulating elements from the didactic of physics with semiotics concepts of Duval (1995). We give a test with questions (using simultaneously text and diagram) to approximately 90 students just after a teaching sequence on gas. We categorize with the software Sphinx students' answers and diagram. This analysis has excellent intra-analyst reliability of our coding with the best level of reproducibility (Cohen' s Kappa test) and all our results are statistically signiicant (test of Khi2). Our results show that : (I) situations affect the mobilization of students' ideas in regard to the sem...

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Knowledge of air: A study of children aged between 6 and 8 years

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

The nature of students’ informal science conceptions

The nature of students’ informal science conceptions

Does Air Exist in Vases? Mental Representations of Children 4-6 Years Old

Un schéma vaut-il mieux qu’un long discours ?

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