Much research has been conducted in the area of children's alternative ideas. However, little is known about their ideas in the biological sciences at a time when there is growing concern for an understanding of environmental and global issues. The purpose of this study was to explore the formation and revision of students' constructs as expressed through different tasks relating to the cycling of organic matter over a period of three months. A qualitative research method was employed in the traditional approach of exploratory investigation. Children, ages 8, 10, and 12 years old, participated by observing the process of decay (plant and animal) in a natural setting on the school grounds. Data were collected by means of regularly scheduled observations, loosely constructed interviews, and a review of participant records of their experience. The data were examined for indications of children's thinking about the process and causes for decomposition, the language used to express their thinking, including their idiosyncratic explanations for the phenomena observed and their expectations and predictions for events to come. The participants demonstrated through various types of language expression that they thought organic matter disappeared into the earth. Furthermore, they thought the cause of decay was physical and/or biological in nature. It was also discovered that the participants held a variety of personal theories which they used to explain aspects of the phenomenon.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-9018 |
| Date | 01 January 1994 |
| Creators | Waldoch, Terez |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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