The Development of a Diachronic Perspective in Children

Montangero, Jacques

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-3536-0_6

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Unlike the first concept (noted above), which emphasizes a sequence of events in absolute time, the second concept emphasizes relative time, in other words the logical relationship between different strata and the transformations that they represent. In the cognitive literature this is comparable to Montagnero's model of "diachronic thinking" (Montagnero, 1992(Montagnero, , 1996. Montagnero (1992Montagnero ( , 1996 defines "diachronic thinking" as the capacity to represent transformations over time; such thinking is activated for example when a child attempts to reconstruct the growth (and eventual death and decay) of a tree.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…In the cognitive literature this is comparable to Montagnero's model of "diachronic thinking" (Montagnero, 1992(Montagnero, , 1996. Montagnero (1992Montagnero ( , 1996 defines "diachronic thinking" as the capacity to represent transformations over time; such thinking is activated for example when a child attempts to reconstruct the growth (and eventual death and decay) of a tree. However, it is argued here that it might equally be applicable to the deposition (through time) of geological features.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…In this way, it was possible to determine which schemes limited the students' ability to understand temporal transformation. In essence, Montagnero's diachronic model (Montagnero, 1992(Montagnero, , 1996) is similar to psychological models of causal reasoning (see for example Bullock, 1985;Bullock, Gelman, & Baillargeon, 1982) on their discussion of the three general principles governing causal reasoning). However, in causal reasoning it generally suffices to link two successive states, whereas diachronic reasoning involves imagining a series of transformations over time.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…According to Montagnero (1992Montagnero ( , 1996, children as young as 10 -11 years of age are able to activate a full diachronic scheme (based on the four schemes outlined above). The limiting factor to this ability is the subject's knowledge of a given phenomenon.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consisting of a series of open puzzles, the GeoTAT tested the subjects' ability to reconstruct and represent the transformation in time of a series of geological structures. Montagnero (1992Montagnero ( , 1996 terms this ability "diachronic thinking." This instrument was distributed to a population of 285 junior and senior high school students with no background in geology, as well as 58 high school students majoring in geology.…”

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confidence: 98%

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Measuring student understanding of geological time

Dodick

Orion

2003

Science Education

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ABSTRACT:There have been few discoveries in geology more important than "deep time"-the understanding that the universe has existed for countless millennia, such that man's existence is confined to the last milliseconds of the metaphorical geological clock. The influence of deep time is felt in a variety of sciences including geology, cosmology, and evolutionary biology. Thus, any student that wants to master these subjects must have a good understanding of geological time. Despite its critical importance, there has been very little attention given to geological time by science education researchers. Of the work that has been done, much of it ignores the cognitive basis for students' understanding of geological time. This work addresses this gap by presenting a validation study for a new instrumentthe GeoTAT (Geological Time Aptitude Test). Consisting of a series of open puzzles, the GeoTAT tested the subjects' ability to reconstruct and represent the transformation in time of a series of geological structures. Montagnero (1992Montagnero ( , 1996 terms this ability "diachronic thinking." This instrument was distributed to a population of 285 junior and senior high school students with no background in geology, as well as 58 high school students majoring in geology. A comparison of the high school (grades 11 -12) geology and non-geology majors indicated that the former group held a significant advantage over the latter in solving problems involving diachronic thinking. This relationship was especially strengthened by the second year of geological study (grade 12), with the key factor in this improvement being exposure to fieldwork. Fieldwork both improved the subjects' ability in understanding the 3-D factors influencing temporal organization, as well as providing them with experience in learning about the types of evidence that are critical in reconstructing a transformational sequence.

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Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Measuring student understanding of geological time

Dodick

Orion

2003

Science Education

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Setting Realistic Expectations: Developmental Characteristics, Capacities and Limitations

Lamb¹,

Malloy²,

Rooy³

2011

Children's Testimony

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Cognitive factors affecting student understanding of geologic time

2003

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A critical element of the earth sciences is reconstructing geological structures and systems that have developed over time. A survey of the science education literature shows that there has been little attention given to this concept. In this study, we present a model, based on Montagnero's (1996) model of diachronic thinking, which describes how students reconstruct geological transformations over time. For geology, three schemes of diachronic thinking are relevant: 1. Transformation, which is a principle of change; in geology it is understood through actualistic thinking (the idea that present proceeses can be used to model the past). 2. Temporal organization, which defines the sequential order of a transformation; in geology it is based on the three-dimensional relationship among strata. 3. Interstage linkage, which is the connections between successive stages of a transformation; in geology it is based on both actualism and causal reasoning. Three specialized instruments were designed to determine the factors which influence reconstructive thinking: (a) the GeoTAT which tests diachronic thinking skills, (b) the TST which tests the relationship between spatial thinking and temporal thinking, and (c) the SFT which tests the influence of dimensional factors on temporal awareness. Based on the model constructed in this study we define the critical factors influencing reconstructive thinking: (a) the transformation scheme which influences the other diachronic schemes, (b) knowledge of geological processes, and (c) extracognitive factors. Among the students tested, there was a significant difference between Grade 9-12 students and Grade 7-8 students in their ability to reconstruct geological phenomena using diachronic thinking. This suggests that somewhere between Grades 7 and 8 it is possible to start teaching some of the logical principles used in geology to reconstruct geological structures. ß

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The Development of a Diachronic Perspective in Children

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

Measuring student understanding of geological time

Measuring student understanding of geological time

Setting Realistic Expectations: Developmental Characteristics, Capacities and Limitations

Cognitive factors affecting student understanding of geologic time

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