Children's creation of algorithms: simulations and gestures |
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| Authors: | Monica Bucciarelli Robert Mackiewicz Sangeet S. Khemlani Philip N. Johnson-Laird |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Centro di Scienza Cognitiva and Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy;2. Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Chodakowska 19/31, Warsaw, Poland;3. Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence, Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC, USA;4. Stuart Professor of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA;5. Department of Psychology, New York University, 301 E 22nd Street, New York, NY, USA |
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| Abstract: | Experiments showed that children are able to create algorithms, that is, sequences of operations that solve problems, and that their gestures help them to do so. The theory of mental models, which is implemented in a computer program, postulates that the creation of algorithms depends on mental simulations that unfold in time. Gestures are outward signs of moves and they help the process. We tested 10-year-old children, because they can plan, and because they gesture more than adults. They were able to rearrange the order of 6 cars in a train (using a siding), and the difficulty of the task depended on the number of moves in minimal solutions (Experiment 1). They were also able to devise informal algorithms to rearrange the order of cars when they were not allowed to move the cars, and the difficulty of the task depended on the complexity of the algorithms (Experiment 2). When children were prevented from gesturing as they formulated algorithms, the accuracy of their algorithms declined by13% (Experiment 3). We discuss the implications of these results. |
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| Keywords: | Abduction algorithmic reasoning gestures mental simulation mental models |
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