Kindergartners’ Mental Models of the Shape of the Earth

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten children’s conceptual understandings of the shape of the earth and the characteristics of the cognitive representations they constructed. A total of 20 Kindergarten children participated in the study (age range 60 to 72 months), including 11 boys and 9 girls. A multi-dimensional interview protocol, developed based on previous studies, was used to collect the study data and children were individually interviewed. Children’s responses were analyzed using the model identification methodology. Results demonstrated that while a large proportion of children had naïve models of the earth, none of the children had synthetic models. Some children had a unique mental model of the earth, doughnut (simit), which is not exhibited by children from US and Western European countries. The findings of this study support the assumption that children’s conceptual understandings of the shape of the earth may be represented as internally consistent mental models.

Keywords

• Shape of the Earth, mental models, kindergartners, early childhood education

Anaokulu Çocuklarının Dünyanın Şekline İlişkin Zihinsel Modelleri

Öz

Bu çalışmanın amacı 60-72 ay arası okul öncesi dönem çocuklarının dünyanın şekline ilişkin kavramsal anlayışlarını ve bu anlayışların bilişsel olarak nasıl temsil edildiğini incelemektir. Çalışmaya anaokuluna devam eden 60-72 aylık toplam 20 çocuk katılmıştır. Çocukların 11’i erkek, 9’u ise kızdır. Araştırma verileri önceki literatür  temelinde geliştirilen dört boyutlu bir görüşme protokolü kullanılarak çocuklarla birebir yapılan görüşmeler yoluyla toplanmıştır. Çocukların yanıtları model tanılama yöntemi kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Sonuçlar, çocukların büyük bir kısmının dünyanın şekline ilişkin naif modellere sahip olduğunu, buna karşın çalışmaya katılan hiçbir çocuğun sentetik modele sahip olmadığını göstermiştir. Bazı çocukların ise Amerikalı ve Batı Avrupalı çocuklarda gözlenmeyen simit modeline sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. Araştırma sonuçları çocukların dünyanın şekline ilişkin kavramsal anlayışlarının içsel olarak tutarlı zihinsel modeller şeklinde temsil edildikleri varsayımını desteklemektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Dünyanın şekli, zihinsel modeller, anaokulu çocukları, erken çocukluk eğitimi

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