Children’s intuitive knowledge about the concept of measurement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48489/quadrante.32674Keywords:
elementary school grades, intuitive knowledge about measurement, units of measurement, logical invariantsAbstract
This study examines how children with different profiles in terms of the intuitive knowledge they have about measurement deal with two of the invariant principles that constitute this notion in relation to different magnitudes (capacity, mass, distance, and length). Fifty children attending the 1st and 2nd grades of elementary school completed two tasks. One task examined the ability to recognize the appropriate unit to measure a given magnitude. The other examined the ability to recognize the inverse relation between the size of the unit used to measure a given magnitude and the number of units needed to measure it. Cluster Analysis was used to define children’s profile. Two groups were then formed: one with children with a good domain of this notion, and the other with children with a more limited domain. The ability to recognise the appropriate unit to measure a given magnitude develops first, albeit in an elementary way, and that this varies according to the magnitude being considered. The understanding of the inverse relationship between the size of the unit and the number of units needed to measure something is independent of the magnitude being considered and of the unit of measurement that is associated to it. The results about children´s difficulties and possibilities are discussed based on the relations between the notion of measurement and the logical invariants that constitute this notion.
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