“Learning to write, to draw and to note numbers according to children in kindergarten and first grade”

SCHEUER, NORA; DE LA CRUZ, MONTSERRAT; IPARRAGUIRRE, M.S.

Heidelberg

Exposición; 12th International Conference of the Special Interest Group in Writing of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction; 2010

Special Interest Group in Writing of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction

Getting to know learnersÂ’ conceptions of learning is relevant for educational research, planning and intervention, since these conceptions operate implicitly on learning in many ways. Pramling (1983) showed that childrenÂ’s conceptions of learning progress from conceiving of learning as doing, to conceiving of it as knowing and, next, as understanding. More recently, these conceptions have been formulated as implicit theories. According to Pozo and colleagues (2006), a shift from a direct theory of learning (focused on factors acting on the learner from the outside and provoking reproductive results) to an interpretative theory (focused on an agent learner who activates mental representations throughout the learning process) occurs in the threshold of elementary education. To the best of our knowledge, the relations between childrenÂ’s implicit learning theories in particular domains have not been systematically explored up to date. We propose to advance in that direction by comparing childrenÂ’s conceptions of learning in three notational domains: figurative drawing, writing and numerical notation, in the developmental period when the transition from a direct to an interpretative implicit theory of learning typically occurs. One hundred and twenty children were individually interviewed in public schools in Argentina (60 Kindergartners, mean age: 5 years, 3 months, and 60 first-graders mean age: 6 years, 4 months). In each school level, 20 children answered questions about one domain. Lexicometry (Simple Factorial Correspondence Analysis, Multiple Factorial Analysis, and Modal Responses Analysis) was applied to the complete transcriptions of childrenÂ’s responses to three open-ended questions about the activity, difficulties and goals in relation with their own learning of drawing, numerical notation, or writing. Results revealed significant differences in childrenÂ’s reports of their learning according to the notational domain. Grade differences were smaller. Overall, childrenÂ’s seemed to account for their learning to draw and note numbers according to an interpretative theory, whereas they seemed to hold a direct theory of learning to write. Results are discussed in terms of the close relationship found between the ways in which children accounted for learning content (specificity, complexity, use, progress) and learning agency (learnerÂ’s overt activity, mental states and processes) in each domain.