Can Children Read Evolutionary Trees?

Autor/inn/en	Ainsworth, Shaaron; Saffer, Jessica
Titel	Can Children Read Evolutionary Trees?
Quelle	In: Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology, 59 (2013) 2, S.221-247, Artikel 6 (27 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0272-930X
Schlagwörter	Evolution; Visual Aids; Reading; Comprehension; Influences; Children; Logical Thinking; Age Differences; Foreign Countries; United Kingdom (Nottingham) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Anschauungsmaterial; Leseprozess; Lesen; Verstehen; Verständnis; Influence; Einfluss; Einflussfaktor; Child; Kind; Kinder; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Ausland
Abstract	Representations of the "tree of life" such as cladograms show the history of lineages and their relationships. They are increasingly found in formal and informal learning settings. Unfortunately, there is evidence that these representations can be challenging to interpret correctly. This study explored the question of whether children aged 7-11 can read these trees and, if so, what factors influence their understanding. A total of 28 children were shown cladograms with both different content (species and features shown) and form (how branches rotated). Questions required these children to reason about different aspects of cladogram interpretation and to search varying depths of the tree. Overall, children did remarkably well: 56% of their answers were completely correct after only 15 minutes of instruction. The youngest quartile of children performed worse than other ages, but there were no further age differences. Children's performance was influenced by the content and the depth of tree searched but not by the rotation of the branches. Like adults, they found reasoning about the relatedness of species particularly difficult. Children's explanations revealed varied insights: from correct semantic interpretation to syntactic interpretation to a variety of misunderstandings. Demonstration of this basic competency provides a foundation from which to design a more extended curriculum for children that uses cladograms to support evolutionary understanding. (Contains 3 figures and 5 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10