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Related Experiment Videos

Children's Developing Ideas About Knowledge and Its Acquisition.

Samuel Ronfard1, Deborah T Bartz2, Liao Cheng2

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.

Advances in Child Development and Behavior
|February 20, 2018
PubMed
Summary

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Young children develop a universal understanding of knowledge and information transfer by preschool. However, their methods of seeking information vary based on cultural and familial conversational practices.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Children's understanding of knowledge is crucial for cognitive and social development.
  • Early insights into information communication and active information seeking via questions are key.
  • Preschoolers' explicit discussions about knowledge reveal underlying presuppositions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review key aspects of young children's concept of knowledge.
  • To analyze how preschool children discuss knowledge and their presuppositions.
  • To explore the universality and variability in children's knowledge conception and information seeking.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on children's concept of knowledge.
  • Analysis of preschool children's explicit talk about knowledge.
Keywords:
Conversational practicesInfantsInformation seekingKnowledgePreschoolersTestimonyTheory of mind

Related Experiment Videos

  • Examination of children's information-seeking behaviors and questioning patterns.

    • Main Results:

    • Children demonstrate early insights into information transmission and actively seek information through questions.
    • Preschoolers can articulate concepts of knowledge and its origins.
    • A universal, fundamental conception of knowledge emerges in children by the preschool years.

    Conclusions:

    • All children, regardless of culture or language, achieve a common fundamental understanding of knowledge during preschool.
    • While the core concept of knowledge is universal, information-seeking strategies differ based on cultural and familial conversational contexts.