Family Conversations About Heat and Temperature: Implications for Children's Learning

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Linguistics
• Science Education

Background:

• Children may enter science education with misconceptions about heat.
• Everyday language may contribute to these misconceptions by discussing heat as a substance rather than a process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how heat and temperature are discussed in naturalistic conversations involving young children (2-6 years old).
• To explore the linguistic resources children have for understanding heat from a sociocultural perspective.
• To examine if everyday talk frames heat as a substance or a process.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of parent-child conversations about heat and temperature.
• Data sourced from the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES) and a book-reading study.
• Focus on the nature and frequency of heat- and temperature-related talk.

Main Results:

• Parents rarely used the word 'heat,' but when they did, it implied heat is a substance.
• Heat was not discussed as an emergent process, only sometimes as a direct causal process.
• Most talk focused on 'hot' and 'cold' to describe temperature as an object property.

Conclusions:

• Everyday conversations may present heat as a substance, potentially impeding the development of a process-based understanding.
• Understanding children's everyday linguistic experiences is crucial for addressing science misconceptions.
• Further research is needed on how everyday language influences children's conceptualization of heat and temperature.