Understanding and supporting block play: video observation research on preschoolers’ block play to identify features associated with the development of abstract thinking

This article reports on a study conducted to investigate the development of abstract thinking in preschool children (ages from 3 years to 4 years old) in a nursery school in England. Adopting a social influence approach, the researcher engaged in 'close listening' to document children's ideas expressed in various representations through video observation. The aim was to identify behaviours connected with features of the functional dependency relationship – a cognitive function that connects symbolic representations with abstract thinking. The article presents three episodes to demonstrate three dominating features, which are i) child/child sharing of thinking and adult and child sharing of thinking; ii) pause for reflection; and iii) satisfaction as a result of self-directed play. These features were identified as signs of learning, and were highlighted as phenomena that can help practitioners to understand the value of quality play and so provide adequate time and space for young children and plan for a meaningful learning environment. The study has also revealed the importance of block play in promoting abstract thinking. Keywords: abstract thinking; functional dependency relationship; social influence approach; block play; preschool; video observation; qualitative researc

Perceived Object Stability Depends on Multisensory Estimates of Gravity

BACKGROUND: How does the brain estimate object stability? Objects fall over when the gravity-projected centre-of-mass lies outside the point or area of support. To estimate an object's stability visually, the brain must integrate information across the shape and compare its orientation to gravity. When observers lie on their sides, gravity is perceived as tilted toward body orientation, consistent with a representation of gravity derived from multisensory information. We exploited this to test whether vestibular and kinesthetic information affect this visual task or whether the brain estimates object stability solely from visual information. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In three body orientations, participants viewed images of objects close to a table edge. We measured the critical angle at which each object appeared equally likely to fall over or right itself. Perceived gravity was measured using the subjective visual vertical. The results show that the perceived critical angle was significantly biased in the same direction as the subjective visual vertical (i.e., towards the multisensory estimate of gravity). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results rule out a general explanation that the brain depends solely on visual heuristics and assumptions about object stability. Instead, they suggest that multisensory estimates of gravity govern the perceived stability of objects, resulting in objects appearing more stable than they are when the head is tilted in the same direction in which they fall

Psychological mindedness and abstract reasoning in late childhood and adolescence: An exploration using new instruments

This study introduces two new measures of psychological mindedness, applying them in a study of the growth of abstract thinking in children and adolescents in a developmental design. The capacity to achieve psychological understanding of the self and of others involves comprehension of the motives, attitudes, and characteristics of the self and others. Psychological mindedness toward the self (PS) and toward others (PO) may be seen as complex cognitive capacities that should show a pattern of related development in childhood. Three groups of 60 fifth, eighth, and twelfth graders completed two measures of formal operations and two instruments to assess the two components of psychological mindedness. We find that psychological mindedness and abstract thinking both increase significantly with age, although the relationship between them is complex and varies with gender and age. Because the development of abstract reasoning skills does not correlate with the development of psychological mindedness in a simple way, a more complex model is necessary, taking age and gender differences into account. Performance on the two measures of psychological mindedness is found to be largely unrelated, suggesting that these are two different psychological skills. Implications of these findings are discussed, with special reference to education, peer counseling, and psychotherapy .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45274/1/10964_2005_Article_BF01537075.pd

A formação dos conceitos de fração e de proporcionalidade a partir da Teoria Piagetiana

A partir das conclusões piagetianas sobre o desenvolvimento dos conceitos de frações idênticas - uma aquisição do estágio das operações concretas - e de proporcionalidade - que só se completa na fase das operações formais, o presente estudo analisou: a) a evolução não só da conceituação de frações idênticas, mas também a natureza dos processos envolvidos na construção dos conceitos de frações equivalentes e de frações de frações, quando da medição ou avaliação de áreas de figuras geométricas; b) o relacionamento entre as evoluções desses conceitos e a formação do conceito de proporcionalidade na quantificação de probabilidades. Paralelamente, o desenvolvimento cognitivo, caracterizado em direção dos conceitos de frações, foi relacionado à habilidade de efetuar cálculos com frações, ensinados formalmente nas escolas. Foram realizadas entrevistas clínicas de 48 alunos do pré-escolar ao 2° grau, entre 5 a 18 anos, em sua maioria filhos de operários, selecionados de 72, por seu nível de desenvolvimento na tarefa de Probabilidade de Piaget e Inhelder (1951). Nestas entrevistas, também foram utilizadas mais duas provas para investigar o desenvolvimento cognitivo: a de Subdivisão de Área de Piaget, Inhelder e Szeminska (1960) e outra especialmente elaborada para a efetivação do presente estudo - Tarefa de Fração. A habilidade de calcular com frações foi pesquisada através da Tarefa de Computação de Frações, construída para este fim. Os resultados da presente investigação sugerem que: a) há uma evolução sincrônica entre as conceituações de frações idênticas, frações equivalentes e frações de frações, até que se completam na fase das operações concretas; b) as relações parte-todo e parte-parte, indicadas por Piaget, entram no desenvolvimento do conceito de frações e também no de proporcionalidade; c) há um atraso no desenvolvimento cognitivo dos sujeitos desta pesquisa em relação aos de Genebra; d) a maioria daqueles, que tinham possibilidade cognitiva de entender as operações com frações, não conseguiu resolver cálculos com essas operações