George Spanoudis

In this paper, we examine the importance of scaffolding
the environment and the role of cognitive readiness in
young childrens’ construction of operational definitions
in magnetism. We discuss various resource constraints
and the conceptual background of preschoolers. Then we
present an experimental study of 165 children aged 4-6
who took part in an extended structured intervention in
which they were guided to construct two operational
definitions of a magnet. The two definitions differed with
regard to the cognitive demands imposed upon the
children attempting to construct them. The construction
of the second operational definition required cognitive
abilities that the construction of the first did not. Our
results demonstrate that children older than 5 years are
mostly able to construct both definitions while younger
children are able to construct only the first one. Based on
this result, we discuss the issue of cognitive readiness
and its role in learning. Additionally, by teaching one
experimental group of older children the second
definition directly and observing their limited success to
construct it, we argue for the necessary role of
scaffolding the conceptual structure of the curriculum
materials to achieve learning.