Can mothers’ testimony revise children’s naïve physical beliefs? Young children’s learning in different physics concepts / El papel del testimonio materno en la revisión de las creencias infantiles ingenuas: aprendizaje infantil de distintos conceptos físicos

Abstract

Young children develop naïve theories, which often contain misconceptions, spontaneously before formal education. Testimony from others plays a crucial role in revising their initial false beliefs. Understanding the development of children’s naïve theories and the factors influencing children’s naïve belief revision is of great importance. The present study examined belief revision in three-to-five-year-old children ( N = 90) when exposed to scientific testimonies from their mothers that contradicted their naïve physical beliefs. Three object motion tasks, including gravitational motion, horizontal projectile motion and free-falling motion, were employed. Results showed that children of different ages held different levels of initial beliefs across different concepts. Scientific testimony from mothers facilitated children’s belief revision, and the belief revision is different across physical concepts and age. These findings emphasize the importance of testimony in science education and highlight the significance of considering the impact of different concepts on children’s science learning.