THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE - A MULTI-NATIONAL STUDY

This study was designed to differentiate between universal and cultura lly specific aspects of children's biological understanding. Kindergar tners, second graders, and fourth graders from Israel, Japan, and the United States were asked whether people, other animals, plants, and in animate objects possessed each of 16 attributes. The attributes includ ed life, unobservable attributes of animals, sensory capacities, and a ttributes of all living things. The results indicated that children of all three ages in all three countries knew that people, other animals , plants, and inanimate entities were different types of things, with different properties. Children in all cultures were extremely accurate regarding properties of humans, somewhat less accurate regarding prop erties of other animals and inanimate entities, and least accurate reg arding properties of plants. As predicted from cultural analyses, Isra eli children were the most likely to fail to attribute to plants quali ties that are shared by all living things. Also as predicted, Japanese children were the most likely to attribute to inanimate entities attr ibutes possessed only by living things. In contrast to many previous f indings, U.S. children in the study presented here displayed more accu rate scientific knowledge than age peers in Japan or Israel. The resul ts were analyzed in terms of how cultural beliefs and linguistic categ ories affect knowledge acquisition processes and scientific understand ings.