Christine Howe addresses both psychological and educational concerns by looking in detail at three areas of physics: heat transfer, propelled motion and object flotation. She draws on her own empirical work in this area as well as that of others to build a new model of conceptual growth. Her results are surprising, in some cases supporting work by Piaget and Vygotsky, but in others contradicting them. Conceptual Structure in Childhood and Adolescence will be of interest to developmental psychologists, particularly those interested in cognitive development, and relevant to the work of all those engaged in educational research.
Author(s): Christine Howe
Edition: 1
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 256
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
List of illustrations......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 14
Introduction......Page 16
Everyday physics and conceptual structure......Page 18
Rationale for a developmental perspective......Page 37
Heat transfer......Page 58
Temperature change and childhood theorising......Page 60
The 'peripheral' case of changes of phase......Page 85
Propelled motion......Page 102
Encapsulated knowledge of horizontal motion......Page 104
Horizontal and vertical motion compared......Page 130
Object flotation......Page 150
Flotation in liquids and stage-like progression......Page 152
Flotation in gases or failure to fall......Page 182
Conclusion......Page 198
An action-based theory of conceptual growth......Page 200
Action-based knowledge in a wider context......Page 213
Appendix......Page 223
Notes......Page 233
References......Page 236
Index......Page 244
