ABSTRACT

Christine Howe addresses both psychological and educational concerns by looking in detail at three areas of physics: heat transfer, propelled motion and object flotation. She draws on her own empirical work in this area as well as that of others to build a new model of conceptual growth. Her results are surprising, in some cases supporting work by Piaget and Vygotsky, but in others contradicting them.
Conceptual Structure in Childhood and Adolescence will be of interest to developmental psychologists, particularly those interested in cognitive development, and relevant to the work of all those engaged in educational research.

part |2 pages

Part I Introduction

chapter 1|19 pages

Everyday physics and conceptual structure

chapter 2|21 pages

Rationale for a developmental perspective

part |2 pages

Part II Heat transfer

part |2 pages

Part III Propelled motion

chapter 6|20 pages

Horizontal and vertical motion compared

part |2 pages

Part IV Object flotation

part |2 pages

Part V Conclusion

chapter 10|10 pages

Action-based knowledge in a wider context