Children's Inferencing Behavior

Abstract

Third and fifth graders were given a sequence of number pairs and asked ro discover the function rule relating them, test the hypothesis, and generalize it to other instances. The fifth graders were better than the third graders on all performance criteria. Task difficulty depended on the funcuon. Some functions were easier when presented in a graphic mode, others in a symbolic mode. Whether inferences made use of abscissa-ordinate pairs, in contrast to a sequence of ordinate values, appeared to depend on both function and mode of presentation. Unlike adults, the children seemed ready to relinquish a hypothesis in the face of disconfirming evidence.