DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARTH AS A COSMIC BODY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

The earth concept as a gigantic ball surrounded by space is a basic compornent of the modern world view. In this study, the author investigated Japanese children's conception of the earth as a cosmic body, in accordance with Nussbaum's (1979) assessmental methodology. The summary as the results was shown below: 1.By using Nussbaum's Earth Notions Classification Scheme and the assessmental methodology, the third grade children's cognitive conditions were clearly described. 2.In this concept, there were no differences between the boys' cognitive conditions and the girls'. 3.Between the foreign children and Japanese, the significant difference of the cognitive conditions was found.