Bugs,butterflies, and spiders: Children's understandings about insects |
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| Authors: | Daniel P Shepardson |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Science and Technology, Link?ping University, Norrk?ping, SwedenSwedengunnar.host@liu.se gunnar.host@liu.se;3. Department of Culture and Communication, Link?ping University, Link?ping, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | This article explores elementary children's ideas about insects. The study involved 20 children from each grade level, kindergarten through fifth-grade, for a total of 120 children. The data collection procedure was designed to investigate what an insect means to children, through the use of three different tasks: draw and explain, interview about instances, and the formulation of a general rule. Considering children's responses to the three tasks, I found that their ideas about insects reflect understandings based on physical characteristics of size and shape, arthropod characteristics, insect characteristics, human-insect interactions, life habits of insects, feeding habits of insects, and means of locomotion. Children's understandings are juxtaposed to that of a scientific perspective, elucidating implications for curriculum development and instructional practice. |
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| Keywords: | Anthropomorphism language in classroom explanation qualitative research |
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