The Importance of Executive Function in Early Science Education

Abstract

This article argues that executive function (EF) capacity plays a critical role in preschoolers' ability to test and revise hypotheses and, furthermore, that young children can engage in the process of testing hypotheses before they are able to revise or confirm them. Research supports the view that this ability depends on their EF capacity to represent, and reflect on, hierarchical rules relating actions to predicted or observed outcomes (i.e., differences between what they predicted and what they observed). The article concludes by discussing the ramifications of this perspective for early science education.

Mobile games and science learning: A comparative study of 4 and 5 years old playing the game Angry Birds

“…Everyday explanations such as direct observations of phenomena and fragmented stories from adults are prevalent in preschool and affect the interpretation of new information and the development of scientific thinking (Kikas, ). Theory‐based explanations and misconceptions fade out as children grow older due to executive control over thinking (Gropen, Clark‐Chiarelli, Hoisington, & Ehrlich, ). Preschoolers have misconceptions about objects' trajectories when more than one causal force are combined.…”

Research in Early Childhood Science Education

“…Other research teams have developed curriculum-based assessment tools to assess the impact of what was specifi cally taught in a particular early science curriculum (e.g., Gropen, Clark-Chiarelli, Hoisington, & Ehrlich, 2011 ;Witt & Kimple, 2006 ). In each of these programs, science competence is defi ned only in terms of what was specifi cally covered in the program.…”

“…Gropen and colleagues (Gropen et al, 2011 ) have had success with such an approach in their development and effi cacy work in the area of young children's physical science. Data collection with this approach is more labor and time intensive than the computer adaptive approach described above, but has the potential to provide a deeper look into children's science competence as they problem solve in front of you.…”

Self-Explanation and Explanatory Feedback in Games: Individual Differences, Gameplay, and Learning

“…Nevertheless, we propose that inhibitory control may be relevant for productive play. Gropen et al (2011) suggest that hypothesis testing and ignoring experiential defaults are important features of science learning that are supported by IC. We expect these benefits should also be relevant for developing abstract principles and rules that guide gameplay.…”

“…Differences in IC may not be relevant to learning from the self-explanation process itself, but instead may be relevant to how self-explanation affects gameplay and thinking during gameplay. Gropen et al (2011) suggest that IC may be relevant for students to suppress experiential interpretations of experiences in the sciences and for students to employ analytic and abstract explanations. Thus, self-explanation may provide conceptual scaffolds that can be used to reach a deeper understanding of gameplay, but this reflection may be applied successfully only if students have sufficient abilities for inhibitory control.…”