Hearing Investigation Into Children’s Recognition of Astronomical Objects Through a Telescope I: Perception Gaps Among Different Development Stages

Abstract

Hearing investigations were conducted for kindergarteners aged 3 to 6 to study their perceptions of images observed through a telescope. Three surveys provided us with voice samples from 149 kindergarten children. Children’s perceptions of objects observed through a telescope increased not only with age but with object type and their perceptions of image inversion and magnification also improved with age and object type. The inversion of an image of a popular animation character was recognized by 56% of younger children and 95% of older children, whereas the inversion of the lunar images was recognized by only 52% of older children. Our results show that a perception gap regarding images observed through a telescope exists among children aged around 4–5 years old.