This paper examines the cognitive process of concept development in preschool children, based on recent psychological research. Rather than attempting an exhaustive review of the more than 7000 articles written on children’s concepts of categories, the paper highlights and illustrates four key themes that emerge from recent research: first, concepts are tools with powerful implications for children’s reasoning; second, children’s early concepts are not necessarily concrete or perceptually based, as even preschoolers are capable of abstract reasoning; third, children’s concepts are not uniform across content areas, individuals, or tasks; and fourth, children’s concepts reflect their emerging theories about the world. The paper notes that these four themes contradict some widely held, but erroneous, views of early concept development and explores a variety of issues regarding early education raised by these themes. Contains 52 references. (JPB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN Susan A. Gelman, Ph.D. Department of Psychology University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Prepared for the Forum on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education February 6, 7, and 8, 1998 Washington, D.C. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE, AND IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA FOR ERIC COLLECTION SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, HAS BEEN GRANTED BY R . G 42Aveval. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 2A INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Sponsored by Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with funding from the National Science Foundation ESY COPY AVAILABLE 2 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN Susan A. Gelman This paper addresses concept development in preschool children, based on recent psychological research. Over the past thirty years, there have been more than 7,000 journal articles written on children’s concepts or categories. Scholars are attracted by the opportunity to understand fundamental theoretical issues (How can we characterize early thought? How does it change over time?) as well as by the practical concern of determining how children reason about concepts that are directly relevant to their lives and schooling (including mathematics, biology, and physics). I will not attempt an exhaustive review of this vast topic in so few pages (see Siegler & Kuhn, 1997, for extensive, state-of-the-art reviews). Instead, I will highlight and illustrate four key themes that emerge from recent research: Concepts are tools, and as such have powerful implications for children’s reasoningboth positive and negative. Children’s early concepts are not necessarily concrete or perceptually based. Even preschool children are capable of reasoning about non-obvious, subtle, and abstract concepts. Children’s concepts are not uniform across across content areas, across individuals, or across tasks. Children’s concepts reflect their emerging “theories” about the world. To the extent that children’s theories are inaccurate, their conceptions are also biased. These four themes contradict some widely held (but erroneous) views of early concepts, and raise a variety of issues regarding early education.
