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Children's observations, ideas, and the development of classroom theories about light
Author(s) -
Brickhouse Nancy W.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.3660310606
Subject(s) - shadow (psychology) , context (archaeology) , mathematics education , science education , psychology , geography , archaeology , psychotherapist
The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction between children's observations of light and shadows and their developing theories in the context of a series of lessons in a third‐grade classroom. Detailed analysis of videotapes of the children's discussions of their investigations into light and shadows led to the finding that the children's observations of light led to the development of a limited theory about light that was largely useful in explaining classroom investigations. However, this theory of light was less helpful in helping them understanding shadow phenomena and was too limited to explain out‐of‐classroom observations of light and shadows.