Development and understanding of taxonomic categories
Fouquet, Nathalie
Development and understanding of taxonomic categories - 2013.
11
The aim of this research is to study the development and understanding of taxonomic categories of animals, plants, and artifacts in children aged from 3 to 6. A free-sorting task in three steps was used. First, free sorting was requested, then three-pile sorting (corresponding to the three categories of animals, plants, and artifacts), and finally two-pile sorting (corresponding to categories of living and non-living). Numbers of exemplars by category served to analyze the construction of categories. Categories for understanding were discussed with justifications of sorts. Results show that children failed to build the three categories of animals, plants, and artifacts and those of living/non-living. However, categories of construction and understanding increase with age. This occurs by more taxonomic sorting and category membership justifications with age. The differences observed suggest different pathways in category construction. Plants have a more abstract construction as infants give category membership justifications. For animals, construction is progressive and is done on the basis of category membership and biological properties. Artifacts are grouped in non-taxonomic sorting with functional justifications.
Development and understanding of taxonomic categories - 2013.
11
The aim of this research is to study the development and understanding of taxonomic categories of animals, plants, and artifacts in children aged from 3 to 6. A free-sorting task in three steps was used. First, free sorting was requested, then three-pile sorting (corresponding to the three categories of animals, plants, and artifacts), and finally two-pile sorting (corresponding to categories of living and non-living). Numbers of exemplars by category served to analyze the construction of categories. Categories for understanding were discussed with justifications of sorts. Results show that children failed to build the three categories of animals, plants, and artifacts and those of living/non-living. However, categories of construction and understanding increase with age. This occurs by more taxonomic sorting and category membership justifications with age. The differences observed suggest different pathways in category construction. Plants have a more abstract construction as infants give category membership justifications. For animals, construction is progressive and is done on the basis of category membership and biological properties. Artifacts are grouped in non-taxonomic sorting with functional justifications.
Réseaux sociaux