CHILDREN'S CONCEPTIONS OF SHADOWS

Robert Louisell, St. Ambrose UniversityFrancis Kazemek, St. Cloud State UniversityJennifer Wilhelm, University of Kentucky

What is a shadow?

For example, we ask “What is a shadow?”, seeking a generalizable answer that will show that the children have grasped the overall theoretical point. The children reply “A shadow is like night lying down” or “It’s part of darkness” … They speak and write metaphorically or in terms of the particular. The form of their language of science does not originally parrot the forms that we believe indicate real mastery of that subject matter. (Gallas, 1994)

Piaget & Vygotsky

Piaget (1962) described ways in which concepts are understood by children. Spontaneous – family and social

interactions, milieu School learning – formal transmission

Vygotsky (1987) “The strength of everyday concepts lies

in spontaneous situationally meaningful concrete applications” within the “sphere of experience.”

Why investigate Children’s understanding of ‘shadows’?Children’s Moon Phase Understanding

Most predominant moon phase alternative conception to be that of the Earth casting a shadow on the moon (age 9 and up).

Will children younger than 9 have the shadow misconception? “Children at ages 6 to 8 could hardly describe shadows except that

they were black in color. The 6-year olds could not form shadows. They could point to the shadows formed but could not explain why they appeared” (Sia, 1980, p. 7).

Feher and Rice (1988) found in interviewing children (ages 8 – 14) that half of the subjects, the younger ones, believed that shadows were out at night.

Piaget (as cited in Feher and Rice) stated that “children 5 to 9 years of age think of a shadow as ‘a substance that emanates from the object themselves’ and ‘travels about.’ Very young children (ages 5 and 6) regard this substance as being alive and conscious” (p. 646).

Piaget’s Four Stages in the Explanation of the Shadow Phenomenon

First Stage – Shadow is a substance emanating from the object and participating with night.

Second Stage – Shadow is a substance emanating from the object alone.

Third Stage – Shadow is a substance which flees from light. Fourth Stage – The absence of light.

“For during the early stages shadow is held to be a substance which travels about, which accumulates at certain points, and which is often thought to be alive and conscious. During the subsequent stages shadow is still regarded as a fluid which emanates from the objects themselves. It is only once the necessity for a luminous source has been noticed that the substantialist explanation, having become useless, is replaced by the correct explanation” (Piaget, 1930, p. 191).

Participants

Two female children: Madison and Erica, aged 8 and 5, respectively. All children lived in the United States (US). Erica was in Kindergarten; Madison was in ????

Method of Data Collection and Analysis

Clinical interviews - protocol developed by Robert Louisell, Frank Kazemek, and Jennifer Wilhelm (2010) while consulting The Child’s Conception of Physical Causality by Jean Piaget (1930). Follow-up interviews were also done with parents of the children.

Each interview was audiotaped, videotaped, and transcribed. All interviews were conducted in family homes.

Careful attention was paid to possible cultural influences - everyday concepts such as books, stories, siblings, adults, friends, movies, and environmental factors – that might have contributed to the child’s vision and understanding of shadows.

External Interest – When and why do children develop an Earth’s shadow alternative conception?

Research Questions

What ideas about shadows do children possess?

When does metaphoric/narrative thinking contribute to the child's understanding of science? When is the thinking along nonverbal lines related to science phenomena? When, and how, do they complement each other?

What is the role of zpd/scaffolding in any "liberated convictions" or spontaneous learning that occurs during the interview? Or, is it not zpd but Piaget’s cognitive equilibration?

What do you know about shadows?

What makes the shadow?

Can Shadows be out at night time?

Piagetian Comparisons

Summary

Conclusion

This particular question sequence was needed to provide a lens on children’s everyday learning and reasoning. As we can see from our study and the literature, children possess fragments of understanding that may need to developed.

Thank You