Mental models of the earth, sun, and moon: Indian children's cosmologies

This study reports data on the acquisition of knowledge about astronomy in children from India. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that the cosmological models that children construct are influenced by both first-order and second-order constraints on knowledge acquisition. First-order constraints are the implicit assumptions that govern the construction of initial cosmological models. Examples of such constraints include the assumptions that the earth is flat and supported. Such first-order constraints are presumed to be universal. Second-order constraints arise from the specific properties ascribed to cosmological objects. For example, representations of the earth's shape and location relative to the sun and moon constrain the kinds of mechanisms that are generated to account for the day-night cycle. We hypothesized that in cultures where both folk cosmologies and the scientific cosmological model are accessible to children, aspects of folk models are likely to be incorporated in children's cosmologies if they provide a psychologically easier way of satisfying first-order constraints. This hypothesis is supported by our findings with regard to universality and culture specificity in children's cosmologies. Indian children's cosmologies honor a variety of universal first-order constraints. These include constraints on the shape of the earth (e.g., support and flatness) and on the relative locations and motions of objects in the cosmology (e.g., continuity). However, many Indian children borrow the idea that the earth is supported by an ocean or a body of water from folk cosmology. This solution to the support constraint on the shape of the earth is not found in American children's initial cosmologies.     

Science Literacy in School and Home Contexts: Kindergarteners’ Science Achievement and Motivation

We examined science learning and motivation outcomes as a function of children's participation in the classroom and classroom-plus-home components of the Scientific Literacy Project (SLP). The sample was comprised of kindergarten children in 4 low income, neighboring schools. Children in Schools 1 and 2 (n = 120) participated in the SLP science activities. Of these children, 79 participated in the classroom component of the SLP whereas 41 participated in both the classroom and home components. A comparison group of children in schools 3 and 4 (n = 74) participated in regular science activities. We identified science learning, achievement, and motivational benefits for the SLP groups. Additional benefits for children who participated in both the classroom and home components of the SLP were greater gains in general science knowledge, higher levels of positive self-competence beliefs for science, perceived family support for learning science, and independence for learning science.     

Children's Thoughts on the Origin of Species: A Study of Explanatory Coherence

This paper presents the results of a study which examined children's ideas about speciation. Two groups of elementary school students, 9-year-olds and 12-year-olds, were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results indicate that several children explain the phenomena of speciation in terms of consistent explanatory frameworks that strongly resemble either early Greek or renaissance variants of Essentialist theories in biology. The core beliefs of such frameworks constrain the types of solutions that are generated for a variety of biological problems.     

“We Learn How to Predict and be a Scientist”: Early Science Experiences and Kindergarten Children's Social Meanings About Science

We examine kindergarten children's emerging social meanings about science as a function of their participation in integrated science inquiry and literacy activities associated with the Scientific Literacy Project (SLP). We describe changes in 123 SLP kindergarten children's narrative accounts of learning science in school during three different time periods: (a) in September, before the onset of SLP activities; (b) in December, after children had participated in 17 lessons associated with 4 SLP units; and (c) in March, after children had participated in an additional 13 lessons associated with the SLP Marine Life unit. At the end of the year, we: (a) compare SLP children's narratives about science to those of a group of children (n = 70) who only experienced the regular kindergarten program; and (b) examine differences between SLP and comparison children's reports on a measure of learning activities in kindergarten that include science as well as privileged content areas such as reading, writing, and learning about numbers and shapes. Results support the conclusion that sustained and meaningful participation in conceptually coherent science programs is crucial for children to develop meanings about science as a distinct academic domain that comprises its own disciplinary content, language, and processes.     

Self-compassion,coping strategies and gender differences in psychology,counselling and psychotherapy practitioners during COVID-19: Lessons learnt

Effective coping strategies can protect against the adverse effects of stress. This study investigated self-compassion's ability to predict approach and avoidance coping in psychology, counselling and psychotherapy practitioners (PCPPs) during COVID-19, and whether this differed between genders. To date, no research has investigated this relationship, despite positive associations being drawn in other populations. Three hundred and nineteen PCPPs completed an online survey including the Brief COPE and Self-Compassion Short Form. Self-compassion significantly predicted greater use of approach coping and reduced use of avoidance coping. The predictive ability of self-compassion was slightly better in female practitioners. Self-judgement arose as a prominent subscale of self-compassion across genders, increasing both approach and avoidance coping. Implications for future research and practice are discussed, concerning barriers to self-compassion and the requirement of therapeutic programmes and psychoeducation as a prerequisite for effective coping strategies in the PCPP population.