Exploring Children’s Reasoning about Continuous Causal Processes through Visual Cues and Non-Verbal Assessment in Science Education: A Case Study of Chinese Primary School Children

• Published in: Asia-Pacific Science Education 2024-06, Vol.10 (1), p.86-112
• Main Authors: Duan, Jinruo, Yan, Rong, Zare, Samad, Qin, Jike
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2364-1177; 2364-1177
• DOI: 10.1163/23641177-bja10076

Causal reasoning is important to children’s cognition and academic development. However, there have been few empirical studies on the impact of visual cues and non-verbal scaffolding on children’s reasoning in continuous causal processes. Hence, the present study aims to explore how causal reasoning in continuous processes is facilitated by visual mind maps and multiple-choice questions through science experiments. By randomly selecting 136 children aged 9–13, the following results were obtained: Children provided with a mind map containing visual causal cues performed significantly better than the non-cue group on explanation tasks regardless of age differences, and children assessed using non-verbal multiple-choice questions scored significantly higher in explaining causal relationships than those using only verbal reports. This suggests that identification and explanation need to be differentiated for a more accurate evaluation of causal reasoning ability. These results have valuable implications for science curriculum and pedagogy at primary schools.