The Development of Scientific Concepts in Childhood

Abstract

The development of scientific concepts[10] in the school-age child is primarily a practical issue of tremendous importance for the school’s task of instructing the child in a system of scientific concepts. However, it is also an issue of tremendous theoretical significance. Research on the development of scientific concepts (i.e., true concepts) will inevitably clarify the most basic and essential general laws of concept formation. This problem contains the key to the whole history of the child’s mental development. It must, therefore, be our point of departure in studying the child’s thinking. Until recently, however, this problem has remained almost entirely unexplored. Our knowledge of the development of scientific concepts is extremely limited. Our own experimental research, which we will cite frequently in the present chapter, is among the first systematic studies of the issue.