Abstracts - Earli

Preschoolers’ induction of the concept of material kind: A study on theHenrik Saalbach, ETH Zurich, SwitzerlandIlonca Hardy, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, GermanyThe process of comparison has been found to be a crucial mechanism underlying young children’scategorization of objects. Through the hypothesized "structural alignment" of objects, importantcommon properties may be discovered. In science education, comparison is the basic cognitiveprocess involved in students’ inductive reasoning, whereby patterns and structures are identifiedacross instances as a basis for the construction of theories and rules. Our study investigates youngchildren’s ability to employ comparison processes in order to form conceptual categories regardingthe concept of material kind within the context of objects’ "floating and sinking." In anexperimental within-groups design, we have five-year-olds observe either how one object made ofa certain material is immersed in water (one standard condition) or how two objects made of thesame material are immersed in water (two standard condition) in total of 12 tasks. To test theimportance of language in the comparison process, we further vary whether the standards shown tothe children are unlabelled or whether they are labelled with respect to the material they consist of.After having observed the standard/s, the child is shown four objects, only one of which is made ofthe same material as the observed standard(s) while the others serve as distractors because ofshape, mass, or volume. The findings of this ongoing study show that children improved from theone-standard unlabelled condition to the two-standard labelled condition on average from 39% to58% (N = 16). Apparently, the presentation of two same-material objects and the assignment ofthe common property of either sinking or floating to both of them already induced comparisonprocesses in five-year-olds, who were thus able to overcome their prevalent tendency toward thedistracting items. Further applications in early science learning which induce processes ofcomparison are thus implicated by this research.Implementing learning environments within the context of play for children aged 4-8Miriam Leuchter, Teacher Training University of Central Switzerland, SwitzerlandThe importance attributed to the education and learning of children aged 4-8 has substantiallygrown in recent years. In Switzerland, models were conceived to integrate the previouslyindependent levels of kindergarten and the first two grades of primary school. The goal is torelieve the strain of starting school as a sensitive phase of children’s educational biography. Atheory of teaching for children aged 4-8 specifies requirements for teaching and learning in thisage group, integrating aspects of related disciplines: pedagogy contributes reflections on normativeand historically founded theories concerning the education and learning of children aged 4-8, andprovides links to existing curricula. Developmental psychology allows research to focus on thetarget group and their potential of learning and development. Here, research findings on thedevelopment of preschooler’s competencies, as in the domains of mathematics and science, areespecially important in providing the basis for considerations about fruitful elements of earlylearning environments. In this research project, conditions and processes of classroom teachingand learning with children aged 4-8 are examined in view of designing learning settings within thecontext of play which foster and support problem-based and self-directed learning of children. In afirst step, playing, learning and teaching settings for mathematics and science are implemented.Cooperating with educators and experts in curriculum development, the research group developslearning and teaching settings and supports implementation. Video-based case studies are taken asa support for educators in the process of belief revision. They also provide a means of codinginstructional practices within specific settings aimed at fostering children’s mathematics andscience competencies, building on their scientific intuitions. The knowledge thus gained will, in a– 633 –