How Children Learn the Ins and Outs: A Training Study of Toddlers' Categorization of Animals

We’re going to the zoo: Interactive educational activities with animals boost category-based induction in children

“…We found a significant interaction between condition and session (small to medium effect size), with the trained group showing a greater increase in the number of category decisions in the second testing session. Previous research has shown the positive impact of prolonged experience and environment on biological reasoning (Atran et al, 2001;Coley, 2012;Inagaki, 1990;Ross et al, 2003) and that categorization and induction biases can be influenced by feedback during experimental tasks (Bulloch & Opfer, 2009;Lawson et al, 2015). We have found the same positive effect from only a short real-world experience in an entirely separate context (direct experience of animals in a zoo) from the follow-up experimental task (computerized task, conducted in a classroom).…”

“…However, after a feedback phase (completing the same induction task, but with corrective feedback), Bulloch & Opfer found that the 3-year olds' answers were in line with the older children and adults: relational matching for the parent-offspring scenario but not for the hunter-prey condition. More recently, Lawson, Fisher and Rakison (2015) found that they could influence toddlers' categorization biases by teaching them to group items using observable features (e.g., has a trunk) or unobservable features (e.g., is clever). In the pre-and posttests children were shown a target item and asked to match it to one of two test items (described in terms of both observable and unobservable features).…”