Essentialist Reasoning and Knowledge Effects on Biological Reasoning in Young Children

Herrmann, Patricia A.; French, Jason A.; DeHart, Ganie; Rosengren, Karl S.

doi:10.1353/mpq.2013.0008

Cited by 24 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…An additional page was included at the beginning of the book to highlight that the depicted adult dormits varied in height by virtue of inherent variability within the adult population and not because of differences in age or developmental growth. This step was taken because piloting indicated that, consistent with an essentialist view, children tended to dismiss the height variations as mere reflections of maturity differences rather than as true adult phenotypic variability (see Herrmann, French, DeHart, & Rosengren, ; Rosengren, Gelman, Kalish, & McCormick, , for children's intuitive theories about growth).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young children's near and far transfer of the basic theory of natural selection: An analogical storybook intervention

2017

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Misconceptions about adaptation by natural selection are widespread among adults and likely stem, in part, from cognitive biases and intuitive theories observable in early childhood. Current educational guidelines that recommend delaying comprehensive instruction on the topic of adaptation until adolescence, therefore, raise concerns because children's scientifically inaccurate theories about species may be left unchallenged for many years, allowing them to entrench and become difficult to overcome. In consequence, this investigation sought to explore whether classrooms of kindergartners and second graders could acquire a basic but comprehensive understanding of adaptation from an intervention constructed around two picture storybooks that mechanistically explain natural selection. Learning was assessed in near and far transfer contexts both immediately and a month later. Kindergartners and second graders demonstrated substantial learning of biological information; however, second graders showed pronounced abilities to near and far generalize, immediately and over time. Results suggest that causally cohesive interventions with an emphasis on mechanistic explanation facilitate children's classroom learning of complex counterintuitive scientific ideas.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young children's near and far transfer of the basic theory of natural selection: An analogical storybook intervention

2017

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“…Essentialism may also impact how people understand the evolution of living things. Essentialism's emphasis on similarity and uniformity deemphasizes within‐species variation which may ultimately create challenges for learning natural selection (Emmons & Kelemen, ) making it difficult to see differences within species (Herrmann, French, DeHart, & Rosengren, ). Younger children aged 3–4 are more likely to use essentialist (category‐membership) reasoning compared to 7‐year‐olds when asked to explain metamorphosis.…”

Section: Children's Reasoning About Foundational Concepts Related To mentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's ideas about fossils and foundational concepts related to fossils

Borgerding

Raven

2017

Science Education

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Many standards documents and learning progressions recommend evolution learning in elementary grades. Given young children's interest in dinosaurs and other fossils, fossil investigations can provide a rich entry into evolutionary biology for young learners. Educational psychology literature has addressed children's reasoning about foundational concepts related to fossils such as living/nonliving distinctions, causation, origins of objects, and conceptions of time. This exploratory qualitative case study explored preschool children's ideas about fossils and these foundational concepts as children moved through a 1-week science camp devoted to fossils. Research participants consisted of 15 preschool children aged 3-6 enrolled in a university-affiliated summer camp. Data sources included daily assessments and postcamp individual interviews. Data analysis yielded several main findings. Children weresuccessful at determining where fossils could be found, identifying familiar fossils and fossil tracks, ascertaining that familiar and unfamiliar fossils were nonliving, and determining that rocks have natural origins. Children struggled more often at understanding how fossils differ from recent bones and skulls, properties uniting fossils, and the natural origins of plants and unfamiliar fossils. We also noted clear age-and object-related trends for living/nonliving distinctions, teleological reasoning, origins, and object ages. Implications for future research and practice are offered.

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“…1 Rather than understanding the question as asking whether species members can be born with a different trait than their parents by virtue of the inherent variability within a population, children may have understood the question as asking whether immature animals can look different from mature animals due to factors related to maturation and growth. The latter is something that, like adults, children have been found to accept even in cases of dramatic physical transformations (e.g., caterpillar to moth transformations; Herrmann, French, DeHart, & Rosengren, 2013;Rosengren et al, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young children’s acceptance of within-species variation: Implications for essentialism and teaching evolution

Emmons

Kelemen

2015

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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Neglecting within-species variation plays a crucial role in students' misconceptions about adaptation by natural selection. Prior research on the development of this propensity suggests that this neglect is due to a strong early-arising essentialist bias to treat species as invariant. Across two studies, we examined the strength of this bias by exploring 5- and 6-year-olds' and 7- and 8-year-olds' assumptions about variation in contexts similar to those used in a recent early educational intervention teaching adaptation. In Study 1, children heard about fictitious animals' physical and behavioral traits and their beneficial functions. They then judged whether all other species members would vary or be invariant on those traits. Across age groups, children showed a marginal essentialist tendency to reject variation. In Study 2, the same method was used, but all references to beneficial trait functions were removed. The 5- and 6-year-olds' responding did not differ from Study 1, but the 7- and 8-year-olds' acceptance of variation increased to above chance rates. Parental religious and evolution beliefs correlated with younger children's responses but not with older children's responses. Together, the findings suggest that under certain facilitative contexts children display greater abilities to represent variation than assumptions of a robust and inflexible essentialist bias would predict. By 7 to 8 years of age, children displayed autonomy from their parents' beliefs and tended to expect variation. However, priming their teleological intuitions undermined their non-essentialist expectations. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.

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Essentialist Reasoning and Knowledge Effects on Biological Reasoning in Young Children

Cited by 24 publications

References 41 publications

Young children's near and far transfer of the basic theory of natural selection: An analogical storybook intervention

Young children's near and far transfer of the basic theory of natural selection: An analogical storybook intervention

Children's ideas about fossils and foundational concepts related to fossils

Young children’s acceptance of within-species variation: Implications for essentialism and teaching evolution

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