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Children's interpretations of covariation data: Explanations reveal understanding of relevant comparisons
ARTICLE

, , LMU Munich, Germany ; , University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States ; , Technical University of Munich, Germany ; , LMU Munich, Germany

Learning and Instruction Volume 59, Number 1, ISSN 0959-4752 Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

Abstract

This research investigates children's understanding of the significance of comparisons between data categories for judgments of covariation. Past studies showed that children sometimes neglect some of the relevant data categories. This may occur because children fail to understand the relevance of the comparisons between data categories. To investigate this interpretation, 51 second graders and 43 fourth graders were tested in a between-subject design. In the standard condition, children were asked to explain their own covariation judgments. In the explain-correct condition, children were told the correct judgments and asked to explain them. Children in the explain-correct condition often provided explanations that were consistent with the correct judgments; children in the standard condition did so less often. Thus, when asked to explain correct judgments, elementary school children's explanations reveal that they possess a basic conceptual understanding of inference from covariation data.

Citation

Saffran, A., Barchfeld, P., Alibali, M.W., Reiss, K. & Sodian, B. (2019). Children's interpretations of covariation data: Explanations reveal understanding of relevant comparisons. Learning and Instruction, 59(1), 13-20. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from .

This record was imported from Learning and Instruction on January 29, 2019. Learning and Instruction is a publication of Elsevier.

Full text is availabe on Science Direct: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.09.003

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