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ISSN : 1229-0718
본 연구는 아동의 생물현상에 대한 지식 중 생물/무생물 구분과 인과기제를 중심으로 한 설명이 언제 나타나며 어떻게 발달해 나가는지 알아보기 위해 수행되었다. 이를 위해 3세에서 11세까지의 다섯 연령집단 아동을 대상으로 성장, 성장과 영양분 섭취, 영양분 과다/과소 섭취, 식물의 성장 요인, 번식, 부활 등의 생물특성에 대한 이해를 알아보았다. 연구결과는 3세에는 생물과 무생물을 구분하는 기준의 일부를 이해하며, 5세 이후 계속 증가하지만, 11세에도 많은 아동(약 45%)이 완전한 구분에 도달하지는 않는다는 것을 보여주었다. 아동이 생물특성에 대해 설명할 때 연령이 증가함에 따라 인과기제를 더 많이 사용하였으며, 지각적인 속성에 덜 의존하고 범주 지식을 더 많이 사용하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 또한 여러 생물특성에 관한 지식에 있어서 번식이 가장 이해가 쉬웠으며, 그 다음은 성장과 영양분 섭취, 그 다음은 영양분 과다/과소 섭취와 식물의 성장 요인과 부활의 순서였다. 생물 범주에 대한 지식에 있어서 동물 범주에 대한 이해수준은 식물 범주나 무생물 범주에 비해서 높았으나, 식물 범주와 무생물 범주 간에는 차이가 없었다. 연령집단 간의 생물특성과 범주 유형에 관한 지식의 정도와 인과기제 사용을 비교하였을 때, 3세, 5세(또는 5세와 7세), 그리고 7세, 9세, 11세의 세 집단으로 나뉘는 경향이 있었다.
The present study investigated children's understanding of the distinction between living and nonliving things and children's use of causal mechanisms. Children, aged 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 participated. They were given a series of questions, which measured children's understanding of several biological properties, including growth, nutrient intake, overeating(overwatering) and underfeeding(underwatering), factors that affect plant growth, reproduction, and reincarnation. The results showed that children understood only a small portion of the distinguishing criteria at age 3 and improved with age. Nonetheless, many(about 45%) 11-year olds do not attain all the criteria. Also, older children employed causal mechanisms more frequently and relied less on the perceptual properties and more on their categorical knowledge when making an explanation. Among biological properties, reproduction was easiest for children to grasp, which was followed by growth and nutrient intake, and then overfeeding/underfeeding and factors that affect plant growth and reincarnation. The animal category was the easiest to understand and there was no difference between the plant and nonliving thing categories. Three- and 5-year olds (or 5- and 7-year olds) were different from other age groups respectively, and 7-, 9-, and 11 year olds tended to be grouped together when their knowledge on biological properties were compared.
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