A longstanding issue in early pedagogy has been that scientific conceptions are frequently underpinned by an interpretation of everyday world experiences–even before children enter formal science learning contexts. Michael Hast discusses his research in which 312 Singaporean children aged 4, 7, and 10 years from four different home language backgrounds–English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil–were tested for their recognition of animals and non-animals.

Read the Study

Image courtesy of interviewee. June 8, 2023