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Young children’s learning of water physics by constructing working systems

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Abstract

The present study explored young 5–6-year old children’s design-based learning of science through building working physical systems and examined their evolving conceptions of water flow. Fifteen children in an experimental group individually built water-pipe systems during four sessions that included end-of-session interviews. In addition, they were interviewed with a pretest and posttest. The interviews consisted of near and far transfer tasks testing for the children’s understanding of three physical rules of water flow and their combined application. To control for testing, maturation and familiarity with the interviewer, a control group was interviewed as well. It was found that through building, the experimental group children’s understanding of the related physical rules grew substantially, showing a strong effect size. Moreover, the builders demonstrated budding abilities in coordinating two physical rules. Three distinct conceptual models regarding water flow were found: water can flow along a path disregarding height considerations; water can only flow downwards; and a coordinated view combining gravitational considerations and equilibration within connected vessels. The children’s new understandings were found to be local, fragile and bound by developmental constraints. The control group but not the experimental group learned one of the physical rules in the far transfer tasks. The merits and limits of learning science through designing and constructing working physical devices are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The author gratefully thanks David Chen from Tel-Aviv University who mentored this research, the children who participated in this work and the school that hosted the study.

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  1. Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Haifa, Israel

    Sharona T. Levy

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Appendix: Example questions from pretest and posttest

Appendix: Example questions from pretest and posttest

The following table demonstrates some of the systems used in the pretest and posttest items. The full protocol is described in the “Methods” section.

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Levy, S.T. Young children’s learning of water physics by constructing working systems. Int J Technol Des Educ 23, 537–566 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-012-9202-z

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