In the theoretical part of my thesis I focused on children’s intuitive and false comprehension of water modifications and water circulation in the nature. I have described research of other distinguished authors that wrote about children’s idea of evaporation, condensation and water circulation. I have summarized Piaget’s cognitive evolution theory and described socially cognitive conflict as an early learning strategy in natural sciences. Part of my thesis is dedicated to natural sciences in kindergarten; I write about the role of constructivism in early natural sciences that is based on Piaget’s principles of assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.
In the empirical part of my thesis I introduced a study on 15 children aged 5 – 6 years. I used a half-structured interview to test children’s idea of water circulation in nature. Using 6 different demonstrations I have then presented to them processes of evaporation, condensation and water circulation. Then I repeated the same interview and compared answers before and after demonstrations. The results have shown that although children are aware of water circulation in nature, almost half of them understood water circulation better afterwards. However, they failed to understand process of condensation as well as reversibility of evaporation that are crucial to fully understand process of water circulation.
|