In order to name an animal they see, children use their existing mental mod
els to provide the animal with a name. In this study, pupils of a range of
ages (4, 8, 11, and 14 years old) were presented with preserved specimens o
f six different animals and asked a series of questions about them. The res
ults indicate that pupils of all ages mainly recognize and use anatomical f
eatures when naming the animals and explaining why they are what they are.
However, older pupils are more likely to also use behavioural and habitat a
ttributes. For both girls and boys, the home and direct observation are mor
e important as sources of knowledge than school or books, although books se
em more important for boys than for girls. As pupils age, their reasons for
grouping animals become more complicated: in addition to relying on shared
anatomical features, they begin to show evidence of an embedded taxonomic
knowledge, knowing, for instance, what a mammal is and using this knowledge
to group animals.