Individual Differences in Early Scientific Thinking: Assessment, Cognitive Influences, and Their Relevance for Science Learning

Autor/inn/en	Koerber, Susanne; Osterhaus, Christopher
Titel	Individual Differences in Early Scientific Thinking: Assessment, Cognitive Influences, and Their Relevance for Science Learning
Quelle	In: Journal of Cognition and Development, 20 (2019) 4, S.510-533 (24 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1524-8372
DOI	10.1080/15248372.2019.1620232
Schlagwörter	Individual Differences; Science Process Skills; Thinking Skills; Kindergarten; Young Children; Cognitive Processes; Theory of Mind; Foreign Countries; Scientific Literacy; Knowledge Level; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Individueller Unterschied; Denkfähigkeit; Frühe Kindheit; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Ausland; Wissensbasis; Deutschland
Abstract	Early scientific thinking in kindergarten (6-year-olds) was investigated in a large study involving 227 participants. We investigated (1) whether individual differences across 3 scientific-thinking components (experimentation, data interpretation, and understanding the nature of science) are stable across children, (2) whether children's increased information-processing skills (intelligence, language abilities) and their development of an advanced theory of mind (AToM) are potential mechanisms that bring about individual differences in scientific thinking, and (3) whether individual differences in scientific thinking predict individual differences in science content knowledge. Using a newly developed instrument with 30 items (the Science-K inventory), we found that a one-dimensional Rasch model provides a good fit to the data, showing that kindergarteners' scientific thinking goes beyond competencies in "single" tasks. Individual differences across the diverse scientific-thinking tasks were stable, and children's scientific thinking was correlated with their intelligence and their language abilities. AToM was an important precursor for scientific thinking, predicting it independently from the influences of information-processing skills. Children's science content knowledge was predicted by their score on the Science-K inventory. This finding points to a specific relation between these 2 components of scientific literacy, and it supports the view that scientific-thinking skills help to better test and revise (wrong) beliefs and misconceptions about science. Our study is the first to reveal substantial individual differences in scientific thinking in children as young as kindergarteners, and it shows that scientific thinking is important for a successful learning of science concepts, even before children enter formal schooling and begin science education. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01