Effect of the kinesthetic conflict on promoting scientific reasoning

✍ Scribed by Sara Druyan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 141 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4308
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2736(199712)34:10<1083::aid-tea7>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

The importance of the kinesthetic-cognitive conflict (bodily experience that contradicts cognition) in the development of thinking is rooted in Piaget's theory. This article presents three studies which demonstrate the efficiency of the kinesthetic conflict in promoting the understanding of three scientific concepts among children aged 5-12. The first study examines the effect of the kinesthetic conflict on promoting the concept of length in children aged 4.5-5.5 years; the second study compares the effect of four types of cognitive conflicts-two physical ones (visual and kinesthetic) and two social ones (between peers and between children and adults)-on promoting the concept of balance among children aged 5-6 years; and the third study compares the effect of the kinesthetic conflict with the visual conflict on promoting the concept of speed among sixth graders. In all three studies, the kinesthetic conflict was found to be the most efficient in causing a significant cognitive change. The results support Piaget's theory which determines that scientific thinking begins with the sensomotoric experience of the physical surroundings.