Children and adults as intuitive scientists.
Abstract
The metaphor of children and lay adults as intuitive scientists has gained wide acceptance. Although useful in one sense, pertaining to scientific understanding, in another, pertaining to the process of scientific thinking, the metaphor may be fundamentally misleading. Research is reviewed indicating that processes of scientific thinking differ significantly in children, lay adults, and scientists. Hence, it is the instruments of scientific thinking, not just the products, that undergo "strong restructuring" (Carey, 1986). A framework for conceptualizing development of scientific thinking processes is proposed, centering on progressive differentiation and coordination of theory and evidence. This development is metacognitive, as well as strategic. It requires thinking about theories, rather than merely with them, and thinking about evidence, rather than merely being influenced by it, and, hence, reflects the attainment of control over the interaction of theories and evidence in one's own thinking.
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Children (and even some adults) do not make the same sharp distinction between theories and evidence that scientists do.
“In addition, it appears that children (and even some adults) do not make the same sharp distinction between theories and evidence that scientists do (Carey, Evans, Honda, Jay, & Unger, 1989; D. Kuhn, 1989; D. Kuhn, Amsel, & O'Loughlin, 1988).”
From The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical framework and implications for science instruction. (1993) · cites this paper as D. Kuhn, 1989
A large body of developmental research indicates that children (and even many adults) are deficient in their understanding of such methodological matters as controlled experimentation and the interpretation of covariation information.
“A large body of developmental research indicates that children (and even many adults) are deficient in their understanding of such methodological matters as controlled experimentation and the interpretation of covariation information (e.g., Gil & Carrascosa, 1985;Kuhn, 1989;Kuhn et al., 1988;Schauble, 1990;Shaklee & Elek, 1988;Shaklee & Goldston, 1989).”
From The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical framework and implications for science instruction. (1993) · cites this paper as Kuhn, 1989
Reflective theory change is more likely if students' epistemology includes an explicit understanding of the relationship between theory and evidence.
“a.An explicit understanding of the relationship between theory and evidence (Kuhn, 1989).”
From The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical framework and implications for science instruction. (1993) · cites this paper as Kuhn, 1989
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The Generality/Specificity of Expertise in Scientific Reasoning
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Learning science through inquiry in kindergarten
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Children's responses to anomalous scientific data: How is conceptual change impeded?
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Using Writing to Develop and Assess Critical Thinking
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The Implicit Theories of Rapists: What Convicted Offenders Tell Us
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Seeds of wisdom: Adolescents' knowledge and judgment about difficult life problems.
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MODEL PROBLEM BASED LEARNING (PBL) DALAM MELATIH SCIENTIFIC REASONING SISWA
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Structures for Facilitating Student Reflection
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Scientific Thinking and Science Literacy
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Exploration, Explanation, and Parent–Child Interaction in Museums
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Cognitive Development beyond Childhood
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From Physical Models to Biomechanics: A Design-Based Modeling Approach
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Consumer health information seeking as hypothesis testing
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Gestures at Work in Sense-Making Science Talk
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The Second Decade: What Develops (and How)
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God Does Not Play Dice: Causal Determinism and Preschoolers' Causal Inferences
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Children's Misconceptions in Primary Science: A Survey of teachers' views
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Supporting development of the epistemology of inquiry
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- Authors
- Kuhn, D.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kuhn, Deanna
- ORCID
- Kuhn, Deanna
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 1989
- Volume
- 96
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 674-689
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W1972191699
- Cited by
- 774
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 139.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- scientific thinking, children's scientific thinking, scientific reasoning, theory and evidence, metacognition, meta-reasoning, cognitive development, conceptual framework
- MeSH terms
- Child, Cognition, Female, Humans, Human Development, Male, Models, Psychological, Problem Solving, Science, Thinking
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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