The Effectiveness of the Constructivist Shadow Activities on Children's Conception of Shadow and Scientific Attitudes

구성주의 접근의 그림자 활동이 유아의 그림자 개념 발달과 과학적 태도에 미치는 효과

In this study of the relative effectiveness of constructivist and non-constructivist approaches to shadow activity for young children, 59 children in two kindergarten classes were assigned to constructivist or non constructivist conditions. Each group participated in 12 units covering shadow search, shadow making, changing shadow size, changing shadow position, and shadow disappearance. Analysis of covariance of differences between the mean scores of the two groups on the posttests of shadow concepts and scientific attitudes revealed that the children in the constructivist group performed better than the children in the non-constructivist group. This confirms the constructivist approach to shadow activities as good science activities for young children by promoting their active experimentation using reasoning about light to foster spatio-causal relations construction.