Methodology for a project examining cognitive categories for library information in young children

Abstract

This article presents an overview of some of the methodology used in a project that examined children's understanding of library information and how those perspectives change in the first 5 years of formal schooling. Because our understanding of information is reflected in the manner in which we classify, or typify, that information in order to view the library collection from a child's perspective children were invited to shelve (i.e., classify) terms representative of library books and then to label those categories. The resulting shelf categories help us to see library information from a child's perspective. Data collection using group dialog, visual imagery, narrative, cooperative learning techniques, and hands-on manipulatives is described for one session of a project in which children used induction to form concepts related to knowledge organization in a hypothetical library. Analysis for this session included use of hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling to examine and compare children's constructions for qualitative differences on several grade levels. Following the description of data collection methods and analysis, a discussion focuses on the reasons for using these particular methods of data collection with a child population.

Using an open card sort with children to categorize games in a mobile phone application store

“…Other research [2] investigated creating a library from a child"s perspective, in which children categorized terms that represented library books and labeled the resulting categories. This previous research supports this approach as it indicates that children are able to group, categorize and name the resulting group based on their own perceptions.…”

“…It is known children categrorize things differently to adults [2]. Studies examining how children categorize books for use in a digital library have shown that children categorize this kind of information in a way that makes sense to them, rather than in line with existing categories [8,9].…”

Knowledge organization trends in library and information studies: a preliminary comparison of the pre- and post-web eras

“…After the advent of the web, the use of cognitive models looked quite similar in nature. One study examined how children classify information in order to determine how information should be organized in a children's library, while another study looked at how belief changes may influence how people cognitively organize information [107,108]. Despite the continuing use of cognitive models, there has been some critique that these cognitive models do not account for the sociocultural differences which may influence the words people use to retrieve information [109].…”

Building Virtual Spaces For Children In The Digital Branch

“…For example, unlike adults, young children (aged 6-7) often are unable to make a clear distinction between fiction and non-fiction (Cooper 2002(Cooper , 1229 and many children (aged 4-7) primarily choose books based on the book's colour or shape rather than the book's contents (Druin 2005, 30). Traditionally, because children are different, separate spaces are created for them in physical libraries.…”