著者

布施 光代

出版者

一般社団法人 日本科学教育学会

雑誌

科学教育研究 (ISSN:03864553)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.26, no.4, pp.271-279, 2002-12-10 (Released:2017-06-30)

参考文献数

25

---

This study examined the development of the concept of animals in childhood under the following experiments. In experiment 1 subjects were told to choose animal cards from twelve picture cards showing animals, plants, or inanimate objects. The results showed that first graders of elementary school did not have a clear concept of animals, while third and fifth graders have formed a clearer concept of animals. However, the third and fifth graders did not include humans in the concept of animals. It was also suggested that even adults still maintain naive concepts of animals that exclude worms and bees. Experiment 2 examined the development of the concept of animals based on the content of the explanations and examples of animals that children offered. The results showed that children tended to think that only mammal-like creatures were animals.