MENTAL MODELS OF THE EARTH, SUN, AND MOON - INDIAN CHILDRENS COSMOLOGIES

This study reports data on the acquisition of knowledge about astronom y in children from India. Based on prior research, we hypothesized tha t the cosmological models that children construct are influenced by bo th first-order and second-order constraints on knowledge acquisition. First-order constraints are the implicit assumptions that govern the c onstruction of initial cosmological models. Examples of such constrain ts include the assumptions that the earth is flat and supported. Such first-order constraints are presumed to be universal. Second-order con straints arise from the specific properties ascribed to cosmological o bjects. For example, representations of the earth's shape and location relative to the sun and moon constrain the kinds of mechanisms that a re generated to account for the day-night cycle. We hypothesized that in cultures where both folk cosmologies and the scientific cosmologica l model are accessible to children, aspects of folk models are likely to be incorporated in children's cosmologies if they provide a psychol ogically easier way of satisfying first-order constraints. This hypoth esis is supported by our findings with regard to universality and cult ure specificity in children's cosmologies. Indian children's cosmologi es honor a variety of universal first-order constraints. These include constraints on the shape of the earth (e.g., support and flatness) an d on the relative locations and motions of objects in the cosmology (e .g., continuity). However, many Indian children borrow the idea that t he earth is supported by an ocean or a body of water from fork cosmolo gy. This solution to the support constraint on the shape of the earth is not found in American children's initial cosmologies.