Learning about other animals (original) (raw)
Related papers
Development of Biological Literacy through Drawing Organisms
Drawing for Science Education, 2017
This chapter is about how children´s drawings convey their level of conceptual understanding of organisms. Drawings is a useful pedagogical tool as a window to investigate children´s conceptual knowledge and meaning they give to this form of art.. We intend to show how children represent by means of drawings their concepts and ideas of the natural world. Our methodology was to analyze the drawings collected from pupils living in rural áreas, towns and suburbam areas in Brazil will be discussed.
A Study on the Spontaneous Representation of Animals in Young Children’s Drawings of Plant Life
Sustainability
Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced in preschool age, provided that suitable educational interventions are designed for the initial stages of education. In this regard, there is evidence that a basic understanding of the issue of the ecological interactions among organisms may be achieved in the preschool years. With this in mind, this research project tests the assumption that recognising the fact that plants and animals are not isolated creatures, but live engaged in constant interactions in nature, may begin to be understood in early education. To that end, this study examines the content of free drawings that a sample of 328 children aged four to seven years of age, undertook when explaining their understanding of plant life. Data regarding the type and frequency of the depictions of animals found in the children's graphic explanations on flora is collected and read in conjunction with participants' gender and academic level. The results show that a substantial proportion of the children in the sample spontaneously drew illustrations of animals in their graphic explanations concerning vegetable life and, more significantly, some pictures show plants and animals engaged in clear contact. This is the case, despite the fact that the drawing activity had been focused solely on the issue of plant life and no indication linked to depicting other kinds of living things mentioned during the activity. The conclusions discuss the data collected in connection with the growing number of research projects that study the question of how young children begin to embrace the fundamental biological concepts that pave the way to the understanding of natural phenomena and make the public capable of making responsible choices when it comes to sustainability issues.
Building a model of the environment: how do children see animals?
Journal of Biological Education, 1999
In order to name an animal they see, children use their existing mental models to provide the animal with a name. In this study, pupils of a range of ages (4, 8, 11 and 14 years old) were presented with preserved specimens of six different animals and asked a series of questions about them. The results indicate that pupils of all ages mainly recognise and use anatomical features when naming the animals and explaining why they are what they are. However, older pupils are more likely to also use behavioural and habitat attributes. For both girls and boys, the home and direct observation are more important as sources of knowledge than school or books, though books seem more important for boys than for girls. As pupils age, their reasons for grouping animals become more complicated: in addition to relying on shared anatomical features, they begin to show evidence of an embedded taxonomic knowledge, knowing, for instance, what a mammal is and using this knowledge to group animals.
1998
In order to name an animal they see, children must use their existing mental models to provide the animal with a name. In this study, pupils between the ages of 4 and 14 are presented with preserved specimens of 6 different animals and asked a series of questions about them. The results indicate that pupils of all ages mainly recognize and use anatomical features when naming the animals and explaining why they are what they are. Older students are more likely to use behavioral and habitat attributes and girls are more likely than boys to refer to features of the head, face, and eyes. For both girls and boys, the home and direct observation are more important as sources of knowledge than school or books, though books are more important for boys than girls. As students age their reasons for grouping animals becomes more complicated. (Contains 17 references.) (DDR)
Young children's learning and transfer of biological information from picture books to real animals.
Preschool children (N = 104) read a book that described and illustrated color camouflage in animals (frogs and lizards). Children were then asked to indicate and explain which of 2 novel animals would be more likely to fall prey to a predatory bird. In Experiment 1, 3-and 4-year-olds were tested with pictures depicting animals in camouflage and noncamouflage settings; in Experiment 2, 4-year-olds were tested with real animals. The results show that by 4 years of age, children can learn new biological facts from a picture book. Of particular importance, transfer from books to real animals was found. These findings point to the importance that early book exposure can play in framing and increasing children's knowledge about the world.
1998
This paper begins with a review of previous research into children's classification schema, specifically with regard to the concept of vertebrate/invertebrate, before citing the details of more recent findings with primary aged children. This research explores the concept of vertebrate/invertebrate and how ideas progress across primary and secondary school. Reasons for the apparent lack of awareness of form and function in animals is considered before making some suggestions for improvements that could be made in the science curriculum for primary schools. (Contains 18 references.) (NB)
Children's ideas in classifying animals
Journal of Biological Education, 1991
Over much of this century taxonomy has maintained a prominent position in the school science curriculum. Despite this long history of instruction, performance on tasks requiring children to classify animals has often been found to be poor. This article reports on a study carried out with 12-, 14-, and 15-year old pupils, highlighting justifications made for their classifications. The pupils' attitudes to classification and its uses inside and outside school were also probed by means of a questionnaire. Results of the study show that children often have a restricted view of the concepts involved and that their experiences may need to be broadened. The study also shows that personalized uses for classification might improve performance as might a more general competence in observation.
What Sense Do Children Make of Three-Dimensional, Life-Sized “Representations” of Animals?
School Science and Mathematics, 2000
This study examines what children learn about animals. The mental models that children reveal through their talk when they are faced with several different types of representations are reviewed. These representations are provided by robotic models in a museum, preserved animals in a museum, and preserved animals borrowed from a museum and presented in a school setting. The features of an animal, which are defining ones for a child, can be revealed by obtaining representations from the child of specimens that the child has viewed. These representations may be written descriptions, oral descriptions, drawings, or three-dimensional models. The museum study was conducted with groups of pupils on school visits to the Natural History Museum in London where the children's spontaneous conversations at preserved animal or robotic models were recorded. In the classroom study, preserved museum animals were taken to a school for individual children's responses to a series of pre-determined questions to be recorded. Overall, anatomical features were cited more often than behavioral or habitat features. Some pupils linked anatomical features to where the animals lived and to certain behaviors. In the classroom, pupils related their observations to their own previous experience such as seeing the animal in the woods, on the television, or in the zoo. The analyzed museum conversations suggest that children simply use their everyday knowledge and understanding to interpret what they see and to allocate everyday names using anatomical clues as their guide. (CCM)