Studying children's knowledge base of one‐sided levers as force amplifiers

Abstract

Attention to core concepts in science and engineering in early education has grown recently, and understanding levers as force amplifiers can be recognized as one of these. Previous studies focused on two‐sided levers and do not provide sufficient information about children's knowledge of levers as force amplifiers, nor about their learning and its support from an education perspective. It is important to consider load distance and force distance separately, as may be done in one‐sided levers, to understand children's knowledge of levers as “simple machines” thoroughly. Moreover, children's zone of proximal development and the possibilities to foster their knowledge should be explored to understand important features of teaching. We thus directed two studies with 6‐ to 7‐year‐old children. In study 1, we conducted a paper‐and‐pencil test in the context of wheelbarrows (N = 370; age M = 6.62). We investigated whether it is possible to empirically separate the features load, load distance, and force distance as well as to determine their level of difficulty. Our study showed that children's concepts of the three aspects load, load distance, and force distance are fragmented, with children finding it continuously more difficult to judge load, load distance, and force distance correctly. In study 2, we developed a 20‐min intervention with a controlled 2 × 2 pre‐post follow‐up design for exploring the zone of proximal development of 304 6‐ to 7‐year‐old children in the domain of one‐sided levers as force amplifiers, focusing on force distance and load distance. We implemented a structured learning environment that encouraged the children to manipulate wheelbarrows and supported them with pictures and/or verbal prompts. 6‐ to 7‐year‐old children had a higher learning gain when they were exposed to scaffolds that combined pictures and verbal prompts in the posttest as well as in the follow‐up test four weeks later compared to the control group.

Children's concepts of gears and their promotion through play

“…Since mean scores do not necessarily express children's concepts, that is, having a correct, incorrect or no apparent understanding of TD and TS, we analyzed children's predictions for consistent response patterns using the binomial distribution with criterion <0.10 (Leuchter & Naber, 2018). With respect to TD, children had to make consistent predictions for 17 out of 26 predictions ( P 26;1/2 [ X = 17] = 8.43%), whereas for TS, the children had to make consistent predictions for 13 out of 26 predictions ( P 26;1/3 [ X = 17] = 5.40%).…”

“…With verbal scaffolds, the adult can help the children to rebuild the depicted gear configurations appropriately, thus enabling the children to observe TD and TS. The adult may ask questions to channel and focus children's attention on the relevant aspects of TD and TS and trigger cognitive processing (Chin, 2007; Hardy, Jonen, Möller, & Stern, 2006; Leuchter & Naber, 2018; Pea, 2004). An adult may also encourage comparisons to support the child in identifying relational similarities or differences between entities (Hsin & Wu, 2011; Richey & Nokes‐Malach, 2013).…”

The Impact of a Construction Play on 5- to 6-Year-Old Children’s Reasoning About Stability

“…However, there are only a few studies that have deliberately compared the effectiveness of material scaffolds with additional verbal scaffolds for children’s science learning. Leuchter and Naber (2019) found that a combination of structured materials and verbal scaffolds supported 6- to 7-year-old children’s learning in the physics domain of force more than only materials, only verbal support or free exploration. Similarly, the results of Hadzigeorgiou (2002) show that 4- to 6-year-olds perform more meaningful activities at an inclined plane to explore the concept of mechanical stability when they received structured materials and verbal scaffolding compared to children who received only materials or played freely.…”

Components and Mechanisms: How Children Talk About Machines in Museum Exhibits

“…When encountering a new artifact, children have much to learn, including facts relevant to the whole artifact, such as its name and purpose, and facts about its components such as the role of specific parts in its operation. Mechanical machines provide a particularly unique learning challenge for young children, as they consist of not only external parts but also internal parts and mechanisms that are unseen but critical to their functioning (e.g., Leuchter and Naber, 2018;Reuter and Leuchter, 2020). Reflecting this fact, early childhood science curricula emphasize the importance of teaching young children about mechanical machines and forces during grade school (e.g., Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007;Michigan Department of Education, 2015).…”