A Study Of Knowledge Representation And Children’s Understanding About Change Of Water States:Exploring The Learning Approach Of Scientific Fairy Tales And Performing

Science education has an significant impact on children to develop scientific thinking and the way of understanding the world. Currently there is a problem in science education. Students often learn the abstract concepts by rote without fully understanding the scientific phenomena in daily life. This study focuses on primary school children learning knowledge about change of water state, by means of reading fairy tales and drama performing, in order to explore the suitable approaches for students of different ages and cognitive processing characteristics of learning science concepts.This study consists of two experiments using reading and drama performing as the learning approach. The first study provides third to fifth grade students with three kinds of reading materials; the second study guides second to fourth grade students with two kinds of performing activities. All students are tested for their levels of master the science concepts.The results indicated that learning science fairy tale is a better approach for low and middle grades students while high grades students have been able to learn abstract concepts. Reading has a good effect of direct memory, but can’t have deep understanding; performing can strengthen the experience of the story and lead to further implication. The way of process imagining makes more attention to external change conditions; the way of embody experience makes it easier to grasp the change of water temperature and acquire general knowledge. Embody fairy tale has advantage for fourth grade students.Children’s science concepts are formed by the interaction of learning processing and prior knowledge. Deep processing concerns the whole by means of changing process corresponding, changing state corresponding and experience analogical reasoning. Surface processing concerns local by means of similar words, similar situation and reasoning without the object of changing. Life experience may not only contribute to but also hinder the understanding of science concepts.The results also found some special physical concepts children hold about water change: the ’wind-cold’ fixed link;’steam-water in the sky’ pre-change conception; the container conception of the ground, sky and cloud; lack of the object of changing which can’t be perceived by experience.Cognitive processing characteristic of lower grades children is anthropomorphic and full of fairy tale. Cognitive processing methods like conception synthesis, reversible conception, analogical reasoning and experience association emerge within middle and higher grades children.