| 3-6 years old children are in the stage of concrete and figurative thinking.How to acquire abstract concepts is the focus of researchers.The comparison of examples can promote children’s classification from superficial perceptual features to deeper abstract features to form abstract concepts.Therefore,this research focuses on the role of sample comparison in children’s classification activities,and explores the impact of similarity and difference comparison on children’s classification and the classification characteristics of children of different grades.This study contains two experiments.Experiment 1 explored the influence of comparison paradigm and the number of examples on children’s classification.180 children were selected,the between-subject experimental design-2(comparison paradigm: similarity comparison,difference comparison)× 2(number of samples: 2,4)× 3(grade: bottom class,middle class,top class)was adopted.The dependent variable is the score of the assessment of children’s classification activities.Experiment 2 explored how to promote the classification of children in primary and secondary classes based on abstract features through further comparison.Sixty children were selected,the mixed experimental design-2(counter-example reference:yes,no)× 2(sample familiarity: familiar,unfamiliar)× 2(grade: bottom class,middle class)was adopted.The counterexample reference is the within-group variable,the sample familiarity and grade are the between-group variables,and the dependent variable is the score of the child’s choice of functional feature classification.The results showed:(1)The main effect of the comparison paradigm and the number of samples was obvious.The classification score of the difference comparison paradigm group was significantly higher than that of the similarity comparison paradigm group.the classification scores of 4 sample groups were significantly higher than the 2 sample groups.(2)There was a significant difference in the selection of the two classification dimensions in the previous grades.the ratio of bottom class children choosing shape features for classification was significantly higher than the selection ratio of functional features.middle class children had no significant difference in the selection ratios of the two classification dimensions.The rate of selection of functional features for classification by children in top classes was significantly higher than the rate of selection of shape features.(3)The main effect of counterexample reference and example familiarity was significant.The classification score of the reference group with counterexamples was significantly higher than that of the reference group without counterexamples.the classification score of the familiar sample group was significantly higher than that of the unfamiliar sample group.(4)The interaction affect between counterexamples and sample familiarity was obvious.When there are counterexamples,the performance difference between the familiar sample group and the unfamiliar sample group was greater.The interaction between sample familiarity and grade was significant.In the small class,the performance difference between the familiar sample group and the unfamiliar sample group was greater.Conclusions:(1)The comparison paradigm and the number of examples may affect the classification performance of children.In the difference comparison paradigm and the presentation of 4 examples,children are more able to notice the abstract features of objects and perform better in classification.(2)As the grade increases,the basis of children’s classification gradually develops from perceptual features to abstract features.Children in the top class can classify things according to functional characteristics,but bottom class and middle class children haven′t reached this level.(3)The counterexample pictures with similar shapes but non-target categories may encourage bottom class and middle class children to go beyond the limitations of perception features(such as shapes)and pay attention to abstract features(such as functions)of things.(4)The familiarity of examples may affect the effect of counterexamples.Only when children are familiar with the examples and have counterexamples for reference,can they form a stable functional classification standard. |
