"Inhabitants of the earth": Reasoning about folkbiological concepts in Wichi children and adults

TAVERNA, A. S.; MEDIN, D. L.; SANDRA WAXMAN

EARLY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Taylor and Francis

Lugar: Filadelfia; Año: 2016 vol. 27 p. 1109 - 1129

1040-9289

<!-- /* Font Definitions */@font-face{font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";mso-font-charset:78;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}@font-face{font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";mso-font-charset:78;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;}@font-face{font-family:Cambria;panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}@font-face{font-family:AGaramondPro-Regular;panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;mso-font-alt:"MS Mincho";mso-font-charset:128;mso-generic-font-family:auto;mso-font-format:other;mso-font-pitch:auto;mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}@page WordSection1{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm;mso-header-margin:36.0pt;mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}-->Across the world, people form folkbiological categories­ to capture their commonsense organization of thenatural world. Structuredin accordance with universal principles, folkbiological categories are alsoshaped by experience. Here, we provide new evidence from the Wichi -- an understudiedindigenous community who live in the Chaco rainforest and speak their heritagelanguage. Forty-four Wichi (6- to 8-year-olds; 9- to 12-year-olds, adults)participated in an induction task designed to identify how broadly theyattribute an invisible biological property (e.g., an internal organ) from oneindividual (either a human, non-human animal, or plant) to other humans,non-human animals, plants, natural kinds, and artifacts. Research findings: These results (1) clarify the content of the Wichi?scategories and the words they use to describe them, (2) showcase the power ofcovert (unnamed) categories, and (3) fortify the view that human-centeredreasoning is not a universal starting point for reasoning about nature. Policy and Practice: Implications of these findingsfor early science education are discussed. Particularly a) how the Wichi?s construalof the natural world may be best integrated when they reach the (Westernscience inspired) classroom and b) how the current results bear on centralissues in early science education more broadly.