Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Dissertation
Keywords
Constructivism (Education); Balances (Weighing instruments); Mobiles (Sculpture);
Abstract
This research was conducted to explore children's construction of protologic (foreshadowing of operations) in the context of experience with balance mobiles in a constructivist setting and to explore the usefulness of making mobiles in promoting children's development of the concept of balance.
The statement of the problem is (a) Can constructivist principles of cognitive development be used to understand children's progress in the course of educational activities involving balance? If so, how? What does the progressive construction of notions about balance look like in children's behaviors? and (b) Does children's understanding of balance improve after experimenting with making mobiles?
The participants in this study were 10 first grade children and 12 third grade children from a public elementary laboratory school located in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The pretest and posttest used a primary balance scale and a beam balance. Making mobiles was used as the intervention. The research of Piaget, Kamii, and Parrat-Dayan (1974/1980) and Inhelder and Piaget (1955/1958) were used as the basic framework for the pretest and posttest.
All interviews and the dialogues during the tests and making mobiles were videorecorded and transcribed for analysis. Evidence of compensation and reversibility, coherence, coordination, and contradiction were assessed in children's reasoning during intervention activities using operational definitions developed by Jean Piaget.
Before the intervention, all children had an idea that weight impacts balance, 13 out of 22 children had the idea that distance from the fulcrum impacts balance, and 6 out of 22 children considered weight and distance at the same time. After the intervention, all children maintained the idea that weight is related to balance but more children, 16 out of 22, had the idea that distance is related to balance; and 6 children among the 16 children considered weight and distance at the same time. Through the three intervention activities, more children showed consistently their belief that the higher side needs more weight to making bars balance and the understanding of the idea that distance is related to make bars balance. Nine children experienced a “Eureka” moment, that is, they had a sudden insight about how to make bars of mobile balance or connected their prior experience to the current situation.
Year of Submission
2003
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Rheta DeVries, Chair
Date Original
6-2003
Object Description
1 PDF file (xi, 150 pages)
Copyright
©2003 Seon Chun
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Chun, Seon, "An investigation of the concept of balance in children ages 6–9: Logic and protologic identifiable in making mobiles" (2003). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 511.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/511
