CHAPTER 3 METHOD
3.6 Data Analysis
The analysis of the data was carried out using content analysis and the IBM SPSS Statistics 19 program. The treatments of the data were divided into the
following analyses: descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and cluster analysis.
For Research Question 1: the draw-and-tell technique was determined using the
content analysis to determine its adaptability to producing Taiwanese young children’s conceptions of learning science.
For Research Question 2: Based on the data from the draw-and-tell technique, content analysis was conducted for this question. Content analysis is a method that may be used with either qualitative or quantitative data and in an inductive or deductive way (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008). Content analysis is a method of analyzing written, verbal or visual communication messages (Cole, 1988). It was initially used as a method for analyzing hymns, newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements and political speeches in the 19th century (Harwood & Garry, 2003). Today, content analysis has a long history of use in communication, journalism, sociology,
psychology and business, and during the last few decades its use has shown steady growth (Neundorf, 2002). Quantitative content analysis (QCA) is a systematic and objective means of describing and quantifying phenomena and analyzing documents
(Berelson, 1952; Sandelowski, 1995; Elo et al., 2008).
In the study, the content analysis included: segments of the young children’s
drawing and their explanations of the drawings. These indicators were determined by two experts, and were viewed as important and easy to process via quantitative analysis.
For the category of learning location, research about science learning location has received more attention in recent years (Falk & Storksdieck, 2005; Barab &
Kirshner, 2001). The coherent and significant relations between learners’ situated conceptions of learning, approaches to learning, perceived learning environments and learning outcomes (Trigwell & Ashwin, 2006) have received a great deal of research attention. Therefore, the learning environment perceived by young children should be
considered in the research of conceptions of learning science.
Learners’ conceptions of learning may be greatly influenced by their learning
experiences (Lin & Tsai, 2008; Richardson, 2010; Wang et al., 2012). Therefore, it is
crucial that major learning activities that are involved be investigated from young children’s drawings.
Furthermore, approaches to learning have been defined as the ways in which learners process their academic tasks and influence their learning outcomes (Marton et al., 1976). Generally there are two approaches to learning: surface (rote) and deep (meaningful) (Ozkal, Tekkaya, Cakiroglu, & Sungur, 2009). A deep learning
approach is characterized by an intention to seek meaning from the material being studied through relating to it in ways that elaborate and transform the material (Burnett et al., 2003). A surface approach is based upon memorizing the course materials for the purposes of repeating them perfunctorily. In early childhood settings,
what learning symbols the young children perceive in science learning can be
regarded as the learning approaches.
Accordingly, after preliminarily reviewing the children’s drawing data, it was
found that several conceptions of learning science such as listening to the teacher, observation by themselves, or making something were exhibited. Therefore, based on the conceptions of learning and conceptions of learning science addressed in previous studies (Wang et al., 2012; Tsai, 2004), this study developed a coding scheme for revealing the possible conceptions of learning science. As shown in Table3.3, the conceptions of learning science were translated according to 3 categories: learning location, major learning activities and symbols of science knowledge, with a total of 21 codes.
Table 3.2 The coding scheme of the young children’s conceptions of learning science
Code Behavior Description
Learning Location
l1 Learning location: Inside a classroom
Learning science happened in a classroom.
l2 Learning location: Outside the classroom
Learning science happened outdoors, such as in a museum, etc.
Major Learning Activities
a1 Listening to the teacher Young children listen to the teacher’s lectures.
a2 Memorizing Young children memorize names such
as plant names and animal names.
a3 Looking Young children just look at some
pictures or objects.
a4 Reading Young children read a scientific book or textbooks.
a5 Discussing Young children discuss the scientific issue with their teacher and peers.
a6 Doing (experiment) Young children do science experiments such as color mixing, wind direction, etc.
a7 Observing Young children observe science
phenomena such as plants growing and insects.
a8 Recording (draw or take pictures)
Young children record their observations of plant growth.
a9 Measuring Young children use something (a scale) to weigh the objects.
a10 Comparing Young children compare the growth rate of red beans and green beans, or
different insects’ characteristics.
a11 Predicting Young children predict what might happen: Does sunlight help the plant grow faster?
a12 Thinking Young children are asked to think about some scientific phenomena.
Symbols of learning
k1 Technology tool TV, computers, projector, etc.
k2 Books Scientific books, The Oxford Young
Children’s Encyclopedia
k3 Pictures Big pictures or photos posted in the classroom
k4 Magnifier Magnifying glass
k5 Objects Fish, insects, plants
k6 Specimens Butterflies, insects
k7 Inspection box
For Research Question 3: Based on the data from the draw-and-tell technique, the conceptions of learning science are composited. The correlation analysis and
regression analysis were used to see the relationships among the Taiwanese young children’s conceptions of learning science.
For Research Question 4: Cluster analysis was used to see the different conceptions of learning science patterns among the Taiwanese young children.
3.7 Pilot Study
To initially understand young children’s conceptions of learning science, a pilot study
was conducted in January 2013. A class of a kindergarten in Taoyuan County participated in the pilot study. There were 20 young children, 18 of whom had parental consent to join in the study. In the pilot study, the researcher introduced to the children what science learning is and asked them to draw what they think about learning science. The children spent about 20 minutes drawing their pictures. After drawing, they were asked to describe their work individually in order to ensure the
appropriate interpretation and understanding of their drawings.
Figure 3.1 illustrates a young child’s depiction of her conceptions of learning
science. In her drawing, we could code that the learning location is inside a classroom. The learning activity is lecturing and listening mainly. The people
involved in the learning are a teacher and the child’s peers. The symbols of study are
desks, chairs, and a chalkboard.
Figure 3.1 A stereotypical image of a young child’s thinking about learning science.
In Figure 3.2, a young child drew her thinking about learning science outside the classroom. She wants to catch a butterfly in her net. Her classmate is looking at a ladybug. Translation of the draw-and-tell process: Learning science is in outside of the classroom. I see a butterfly and use a net to catch it, and my classmate goes to
“see” a ladybug.
Figure 3.2 A young child showing her thinking about learning science.
The pilot study solved parts of the puzzle of whether young children can, through a circle time discussion, recall their science learning experiences and, with the draw-and-tell technique, demonstrates their thinking of learning science. Specifically, in the pilot study, the researcher just introduced to the children what science learning is and
asked them to draw what they think about learning science. However, during the drawing phase, many children asked questions such as, “Can I draw myself doing butterfly observation?” or “Can I draw myself recording my plant’s growth?”
Consequently, after the pilot study, the researcher developed the discussion outline to
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS
To answer the research questions in detail, there are six phases of data analysis
conducted in this study. In the first phase, quantitative content analysis was used to yield the frequency of the children’s images of learning science in the Taiwan
kindergarten setting. Moreover, the conceptions of learning form a hierarchical
structure (Marton et al., 1993). The current study also attempted to define the
hierarchy of the children’s conceptions of learning science. In the second phase, based on the frequency data, the relationships among the Taiwanese young children’s
conceptions of learning science were examined. In the third phase, regression analyses were conducted to predict the children’s major learning activities using the
learning symbols they drew as predictors. In the fourth phase, cluster analysis was implemented to discover the possible patterns of the children’s conceptions of
learning science. Figure 4.1 presents a flow chart of the process of the data analysis in this study.
Figure 4.1 Flow chart of the process of data analysis
4.1 Draw-and-tell as a Method to Probe Young Children’s Conceptions of Learning Science
This study attempts to investigate Taiwanese young children’s conceptions of
learning science. First of all, the study examined the adaptability of the draw-and-tell
Phase 4
Cluster analysis for young children's conceptions of learning science
Phase 3
Regression analysis for predicting young children's conceptions of learning
Phase 2
Correlation analysis among the young children's conceptions of learning science
Phase 1
Quantitative content analysis for the young children's conceptions of learning science
including 293 girls and 304 boys from 15 kindergartens located in northern Taiwan (Taipei city, New Taipei city, Taoyuan county, Hsinchu city and Miaoli county)
participated in this study. Through the standard research procedure, 399 of these young children could follow the researcher’s guidelines, produce appropriate
drawings, and give the required information. Therefore, 66.8% of all of the children
produced their conceptions of learning science in their drawings, which means that those young children could comprehend the researcher’s instruction, understand both
learning and science, and draw and narrate their conceptions of learning science. The other 33.2% of the children produced nonsensical symbols in their drawings; that is, those children just scribbled and made irrelevant remarks during their narration. For example, in Figure 4.2, the young child drew some circles, points, and lines. In the further phase of describing her picture, she said nothing about it. Figure 4.3 is another example. The child said he drew a lot of people inside a bubble that floated around, which was irrelevant to conceptions of learning science.
Figure 4.2 An example of a young child’s scribbling.
Figure 4.3 An example of a young child’s drawing which was irrelevant to the conceptions of learning science.
There are a number of possible explanations for these 33.2% of young children producing nonsensical symbols in their drawings. First, they may lack sufficient drawing representation skills. With the increase in young children’s intention to
communicate with others by drawing, they represent an increasing amount of focus, more ‘others’, and abstract representation in their drawings. Moreover, young children’s drawing representation development correlates with their personal
characteristics, the activities of the different learning contents, and the interaction between the teacher and peers in the classroom. Maybe these children may not yet have reached this stage of development in their drawing. Second, due to both science
and learning being abstract concepts to young children, the scientific terms may be beyond these children’s comprehension. Third, their kindergartens may be weak in
the area of science activity. As mentioned before, the participants in the study were Taiwanese young children of six years of age who will soon enter elementary school to begin their formal education. In this stage, many kindergartens arrange an intensive Mandarin Phonetic Symbols curriculum for these young children, perhaps thus
neglecting science lessons. It is likely that this would result in these young children having difficulty drawing and telling their conceptions of learning science.
The results suggest that the draw-and-tell technique is a potential way of understanding young children’s construction of learning conceptions. The images
provide researchers with a different sequence of data and an alternative means of perceiving them. Moreover, the draw-and-tell technique provides another perspective of conceptions of learning from those conducted with other qualitative or quantitative methods. The results suggest that these children were more science savvy than
commonly assumed, and already grasped basic understandings of key learning science concepts.
4.2 Quantitative Content Analysis of Young Children’s Conceptions of Learning Science
Content analysis of the young children’s drawings was conducted to develop a
checklist (Wang et al., 2012). The checklist was developed by examining the items presented, the learning settings, and the science learning attributes of the people depicted in the drawings. In order to ensure proper validity, related studies were also referred to (Finson et al., 1995; Fralick, Kearn, Thompson, & Lyons, 2009; Scherz &
Oren, 2006). Moreover, an experienced teacher was consulted to confirm the
categories and indicators. Accordingly, three categories were concluded: (1) learning location, (2) major learning activity, and (3) symbols of learning. These were used to
analyze the young children’s drawings of their conceptions of learning science.
To understand all of the features of the participants’ conceptions of learning
science, their drawings were analyzed according to the coding scheme in Table 3.3.
Through the quantitative content analysis, the frequency and distribution of those coded conceptions of learning science are demonstrated in Table 4.1. Moreover, for the sake of providing a visual picture of the distinction, consider the graphic
representations in Figures 4, 5, and 6.
Table 4.1
Distribution of Young Children’s Depictions of Conceptions of Learning Science
Category (Code) Frequency Percentage
Learning Location
Inside a classroom (l1) 238 59.6%
Outside the classroom (l2) 173 43.4%
Major Learning Activities
Recording (drawing or taking pictures) (a8)
Magnifying glass (k4) 24 6.0%
Objects (k5) 285 71.4%
Specimens (k6) 15 3.8%
Inspection boxes (k7) 13 3.3%
Figure 4.4 The distribution of the learning location
Figure 4.5 The distribution of the major learning activities
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
Inside a classroom Outside the classroom
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
Figure 4.6 The distribution of the symbols of learning
Based on the checklist, each of the components in the drawing could be marked if presented in a drawing. For all categories, the indicators in each child’s drawing were checked depending on whether they drew them or not. Thus, one child’s
drawing might include more than one indicator. To take the case of Figure 4.7, it was mainly categorized as “Outside the classroom,” the major learning activities were
“Doing” and “Observation,” and the learning symbols were “Objects” and “Inspection box.” Moreover, each occurrence of an object included in the checklist was only
coded once per drawing, even if it appeared many times. For example, there are many insects but only one count for object in the checklist for Figure 4.7.
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
Figure 4.7 An example of a young child’s (F7) drawing for going through the checklist.
After one researcher coded the drawings according to the checklist, another research assistant (an experienced kindergarten teacher) was invited to be an
independent coder to ensure reliability. The inter-coders’ reliability is Cohen’s Kappa value=0.82, p<.000, showing a high level of agreement. If there were different
opinions, further discussions were undertaken to reach final agreement.
To interpret how Taiwanese young children perceive learning science, all of the children’s drawings were analyzed according to the checklist. The frequencies and proportions of each subcategory were counted and calculated. The descriptive results are presented in Table 4.1. Examining the coded indicator of science learning
location, it was found that learning science in the classroom and outside the classroom
accounted for about 59.6% (code l1, frequency=238) and 43.4% (code l2, frequency=173) respectively of the children’s conceptions of learning science
location. The above results indicate that the children deemed that science learning happens in a classroom (formal environment) more often than outside the classroom (such as in a botanical garden or a museum).
Figure 4.8 An example of a young child’s (D4) perception of a learning location.
In terms of the coded indicators of the young children’s major learning activities,
more than half of the children demonstrated observing (code a5, frequency=221,
55.4%) in their drawing. These illustrated scientific observing plays a central part in the formation of scientific knowledge and thus observing has an important role in their teaching and learning of science. Table 4.2 shows examples of young children illustrating learning science as observing. The following examples of each category are presented in proportion to their approximate frequency.
Table 4.2 Examples of young children illustrating observing for learning science
Drawings Narrations
(O6) We often observe. And we use a magnifying glass to
observe. We have a caterpillar in the school and observe how it becomes a butterfly.
(B16) I water my plant, observe my plant’s growth and use the notebook which the teacher gave me to draw my plant’s growth every morning.
(N2) I observe butterflies and bugs outside of the classroom. In the classroom, the teacher slices the orange and asks us to observe it.
(O24) I use a magnifying glass to observe flowers, fish, and
butterflies. This is the place for magnifying glasses (points to the middle of the right side).
Researcher: What is this
(pointing to the upper right side)?
Child #O24: This is a photo of an animal.
(J8) My friends and I were observing the silkworm moving and eating.
(I9) We were observing the green bean’s growth both in the
classroom and outside of the classroom.
(I15) I was observing the wind’s direction; therefore, I knew how to fly my kite.
(H8) Learning science is to observe the butterflies and ladybugs.
(F13) The teacher asked me to use a magnifying glass to
observe the fish swimming in the inspection box and in the fish pond.
(F26) We were observing our beans’ growth.
(E14) In science learning, I can use a magnifying glass to observe the caterpillar moving.
(B6) We’re observing a lot of flowers’ shapes.
Secondly, 142 young children presented listening to the teacher (code a1, frequency=142, 35.6%) in their drawings. Table 4.3 shows examples of young
children showing their conceptions of learning science as listening to the teacher. This result implies that young children might treat teachers as having an important role in their science learning process.
Table 4.3 Examples of young children showing listening to the teacher for learning science
Drawings Narrations
(B10) Our teacher taught us about the butterfly and snail. We were listening to her.
(B16) (Top right side) The teacher taught us about scales and weights in the science lesson.
(B20) Learning science is listening to the teacher teaching.
(C7) Learning science is sitting on the chair and concentrating on listening to the teacher.
(J11) In the classroom, we were listening to the teacher talking about the scales.
(D1) The teacher taught us about butterflies.
(D11) Attending class is listening to the teacher teaching.
(F3) We are sitting in the classroom and listening to the teacher. He used the projector to teach us.
(G4) Learning science is the teacher teaching us a lot.
(G6) The teacher was teaching us about the cosmos. And we were listening to her.
(J5) Everyone was sitting in their chairs and listening to the teacher.
(N22) The teacher was teaching and we’re listening to her lecture.
Thirdly, doing (code a4, frequency=122, 30.6%) and looking (code a3,
frequency=111, 27.8%) also have the highest percentage in Taiwanese young children’s drawings. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them” (cited from Bynum & Porter, 2005). Children’s
conceptions of learning as learning to do have also been demonstrated by other research (Pramling, 1988). In early childhood it is important that science activities be hands-on, child-driven, authentic, and active. Developmentally, young children learn and understand best from what they can see, touch, feel, and manipulate. Providing safe, readily available materials that children can experiment with is one of the most important steps towards effective hands-on science investigations (Watts, 1997).
Clearly, the findings indicate that doing science is a natural and critical part of children’s early learning, and learning by looking definitely exists in Taiwanese young children’s learning process. Table 4.4 illustrates young children’s conceptions
of learning science as doing.
Table 4.4 Examples of young children showing doing for learning science
Drawings Narrations
(A1) I planted a green bean. I recorded its growth.
(I10) I used a celery stalk with lots of leaves and trimmed the end.
Then I put it in red food coloring to see how plants move water from their roots to their leaves. The teacher then cut a slice of stalk and
Then I put it in red food coloring to see how plants move water from their roots to their leaves. The teacher then cut a slice of stalk and