AI Article Synopsis
- The study involved 161 German children (ages 5-10) from various backgrounds over a 6-wave period, analyzing when scientific reasoning abilities develop.
- It found that these abilities start emerging around age 6, remain stable, and are significantly influenced by language skills, mindreading abilities, and parental education.
- Mindreading skills initially help predict scientific reasoning in early school years, but as children grow, they also use scientific reasoning to refine their understanding of others' thoughts.
Article Abstract
This 6-wave longitudinal study (2014-2018) of 161 German 5- to 10-year-olds from a midsized city and rural area in southern Germany (89 females, 72 males; predominantly White; mostly middle class) found that scientific-reasoning abilities first develop at 6 years. Abilities were highly stable, with the kindergarten score predicting 25% of end-of-elementary-school variance. Individual but not developmental differences were related to language abilities (0.39), mindreading skills (0.33), and parental education (0.36). In early elementary school, mindreading skills predicted scientific reasoning (0.15), but not vice versa; in late elementary school, bidirectional associations emerged (0.11-0.33). Our findings suggest that mindreading is a precursor for the development of scientific reasoning and that older children use scientific reasoning to revise their advanced theories of mind.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13860 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!