Development of Conceptual Change and Understanding in Children

The study explored conceptual development and understanding in children across different age groups from a developmental psychology perspective. The aim was to investigate developmental change in children's understanding of two different yet overlapping concepts of ‘earth’ across the three different age groups. The children in the successive age groups of 6 years, 8 years and 10 years were studied using the specific concepts of mother earth and planet earth. The participants were asked to draw and describe their representations of the respective concepts of earth. The results indicate that conceptual development in children varies with age in a developmental manner. It has been substantiated by the results of the study, which indicate that the participants aged 6 years had no concept formation of the specific concepts investigated in the study. However, the participants aged 8 years depicted conceptual change and formation, compounded by ambiguity and overlap between the two concepts and for participants aged 10 years, the results displayed stark distinctions between the two concepts. The study suggests that conceptual change develop with the increasing cognitive ability to learn and the significant role played by school related factors on children’s conceptual understanding.