Two studies are presented in this paper. In Study 1, the definitions given by kindergarteners, third and sixth graders (N = 60) to several political terms were examined, to test whether there was a characteristic-to-defining-shift (Keil 1989). The children were presented with seven words: kingdom, king, border, tax, soldier, capital city, and policeman and were asked if and where they had ever heard each of them and, if they had, to explain their meanings. Kindergarten children did not know most of the terms or defined them mainly by means of characteristic but nondefining features. Third graders appeared to represent the state only in physical terms. Soldiers and policemen were described as employees but not as public servants. Study 2 examined to what extent children's misconceptions can be changed through explicit instruction. A curriculum lasting about 16 hours was implemented with a group of fourth graders (N = 30). On pre-test, most children depicted the state in the same ways as third graders in Study 1. After the curriculum implementation, nearly all children showed a political conception of the state, describing it not only in terms of a territory in which a population is settled, but also in terms of government. In the concluding section, the children's misconceptions are analyzed and some hypotheses about their origins and the ways to prevent them are proposed.

The concept of Nation-state in Italian elementary school children: spontaneous concepts and effects of teaching

BERTI, ANNA EMILIA;
1998

Abstract

Two studies are presented in this paper. In Study 1, the definitions given by kindergarteners, third and sixth graders (N = 60) to several political terms were examined, to test whether there was a characteristic-to-defining-shift (Keil 1989). The children were presented with seven words: kingdom, king, border, tax, soldier, capital city, and policeman and were asked if and where they had ever heard each of them and, if they had, to explain their meanings. Kindergarten children did not know most of the terms or defined them mainly by means of characteristic but nondefining features. Third graders appeared to represent the state only in physical terms. Soldiers and policemen were described as employees but not as public servants. Study 2 examined to what extent children's misconceptions can be changed through explicit instruction. A curriculum lasting about 16 hours was implemented with a group of fourth graders (N = 30). On pre-test, most children depicted the state in the same ways as third graders in Study 1. After the curriculum implementation, nearly all children showed a political conception of the state, describing it not only in terms of a territory in which a population is settled, but also in terms of government. In the concluding section, the children's misconceptions are analyzed and some hypotheses about their origins and the ways to prevent them are proposed.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/139488
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