The role of age in constructing, applying theory and responding to cognitive and social challenges: Investigating children’s scientific thinking about floating and sinking objects.
Journal Title: Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences - Year 2014, Vol 2, Issue 5
Abstract
The study investigated how children of different ages constructed and applied their theories about floating and sinking objects and evaluated their responses to cognitive and social challenges. This was an experimental study in which the role of age in constructing, applying and responding to cognitive challenges was tested. Focus was on children’s scientific thinking about the concepts of floating and sinking objects. The study was informed by Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s constructivism and social constructivism conceptual frameworks respectively. Basically it was hypothesized that children’s cognitive development followed a sequence and that they constructed their understanding of the environment independent of the teacher or an adult. On the other hand, Vygotsky postulated that adults were important for scaffolding and enabling children to reach higher levels of understanding. Children’s reasoning was sophisticated and embedded in social interaction while Piaget postulated that learning was an individual activity. Interviews and practical experiments were used to collect data from the two children aged eight and twelve years respectively. Initial predictions showed that the young attributed floating or sinking for more than 80% compared with 40% for adults. After the cognitive challenge only 40% were attributed to weight and material compared with 31%. Common explanations for sinking and floating by the adult were, mass, material and size. Responses to scaffolding challenge revealed the young as sticking to ‘heavy’, size, compared with the theory of mass and size of the object by the adult. Initial predictions did not show significant differences in the accuracy of predictions between the young and the adult. However, significant differences occurred in their explanations of causes of sinking or floating. The older and more cognitively mature managed to explain floating in a variety and conceptual ways. Both used physical and observable properties but differed in the proportions. Following the cognitive challenge, both found themselves giving broader explanations to justify observations some of which challenged earlier predictions. From the study, it was concluded that age had an influence on cognitive processes but challenges did not alter their original theories while commonsense required an alternate hypothesis. There was consistency in scientific their understanding and thinking about the role of air. Age influenced the role of scaffolding in understanding and reasoning. It was therefore concluded that age determined scientific thinking and reasoning when constructing understanding of the environment. Social interaction helped raise the level of understanding. Cognitive challenge led the participants to change strategy but not the original theory of understanding the environment which involved scientific knowledge and commonsense. Keywords: cognitive, scaffolding, float, sink, conceptual, constructivism, challenge
Authors and Affiliations
Ignatius Isaac Dambudzo, Hope Virginia Mawere
Keywords
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