Classificatory
Reasoning in Children: Is It a Knowledge-Based Competence? A Review
of Empirical Studies
Y. Ni |
This
article, by reviewing empirical studies that pertinent to the issue
addressed here, examines the claim that classificatory reasoning
in children is a knowledge-based competence. It draws upon Piaget's
analysis of two levels of classificatory reasoning, classification
based on membership and on inclusion, to show that this claim is
not warranted from the evidence on which this claim is based. In
particular, the evidence does not appeal to the core of the competence-understanding
the deductive necessity of class inclusion relations. The present
analysis suggests that classificatory reasoning seems to undergo
developmental changes that involve both structural-general and content-specific
components, and the content-specific components are not equivalent
to the structural-general components in the cognitive competence. Key words: classification, developmental change, expert-novice differences |